


Unfinished Tales

by ThatFandomObsessedChick



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Alpha/Omega, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Mutants, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Blood and Torture, Cancer, Everyone Is Gay, F/M, Family Secrets, Implied/Referenced Brainwashing, Implied/Referenced Underage Sex, M/M, Mentions of Cancer, Mutant Powers, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Past Torture, Psychological Torture, Rape Aftermath, Rape/Non-con Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-22
Updated: 2019-05-22
Packaged: 2020-03-09 18:56:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 10
Words: 50,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18923050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatFandomObsessedChick/pseuds/ThatFandomObsessedChick
Summary: A collection of various AU's all centred around Tony Stark.(C1)Chapter index(C2)Legends (Mutant AU)(C3)Leave a Light on (Angel AU)(C4)Freedom Front (WWII AU)(C5)Prince of Darkness (Vampire AU)(C6)Purity of Lies (Angel/Demon AU)(C7)For You (Sickness AU)(C8)Here and Now (Mafia AU)(C9)Rogue (Alpha/Omega/Beta AU)(C10)Bitten (Vampire AU)





	1. Chapter Index

_**Chapter Index** _

  1. Chapter Index  ** _You're Here_**
  2. Legends  _(Mutant AU)_
  3. Leave a Light on  _(Angel AU)_
  4. Freedom Front  _(WWII AU)_
  5. Prince of Darkness  _(Vampire AU)_
  6. Purity of Lies  _(Angel/Demon AU)_
  7. For You  _(Sickness AU)_
  8. Here and Now  _(Mafia AU)_
  9. Rogue  _(Alpha/Omega/Beta AU)_
  10. Bitten  _(Vampire AU)_




	2. Chapter Index

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When young Tony Stark is taken to a school made specifically for gifted youngsters just like him by his father, his life is suddenly tipped upside down. His class is full of the most powerful beings in the world and he is, for the first time in his entire life, completely out of his depth. And to top it all off, his completely unsuspecting father turns out to be one of the most powerful of them all. He also learns something about himself that will change his life forever.
> 
> Who is he if who he once was is not who he truly is?

**_Chapter 1: A New Beginning (Aka, This Might be Fun!)_ **

  
“Dad, this is a really, really bad idea.” Anthony Edward Stark stated for the hundredth time since the decision had first been made.  
  
Howard Stark rolled his eyes.  
  
“You keep saying that, Anthony,” he muttered as he checked for incoming traffic in his wing mirrors and over took an angry woman in a bright pink VW, winking at her with an obnoxious smile when she flashed a middle finger. “Bitch.” he muttered bitterly as he dropped his cocky facade.  
  
“Dad, you can't call people bitches and I know I keep saying it! I keep saying it because, it's a really, really bad idea but however, you keep electing to ignore me and I know you hear my repeated cries of objection because you always have a really sassy reply that kinda irritates me.”  
  
“You can't say but and however one word after the other, Anthony, they basically mean the same thing in the sentence you just used.” Howard replied, sounding rather droll with a hint of despondence.  
  
“That's beside the fu-”  
  
Howard spun his head in Tony's direction so fast that the younger Stark thought his head would fall off, and leveled him with the most ominous glare since the birth of mankind.  
  
“Hey, don't look at me like that, you just called a woman a bitch!”  
  
The glare intensified.  
  
“Geeze, sorry. That's beside the freaking point.”   
  
Howard turned his attention back to the road, with a little huff of half hearted satisfaction.  
  
“Good grief, you're such a drama queen.”  
  
Howard lifted his right, his middle finger erected.  
  
“And a hypocrite.”  
  
“Continue with your little bitch fit then, I'm waiting.”  
  
Tony growled and narrowed his eyes but continued.  
  
“As I was saying. It's a bad idea for me to join the "super secret boy band"-”  
  
“Let me stop you right there, it can't be a boy band as there's a girl as part of the team.” Howard interjected with his index finger raised.  
  
“Right, whatever. Super secret pop group. I can't join just cause you threw cash at them. I have to actually have a mutation. Which is something, by the way, I do not have.”  
  
Howard rolled his eyes again.  
  
“First of all, you are a mutant. If I'm not mistaken, you are a low level technopath, a low level telekinetic and some other weird shit extremely low level-path.”  
  
“That sentence barely made sense, you should check your own language skills before you correct mine.”  
  
“Fuck off, Anthony.” Howard muttered.  
  
“HA! You swore! I heard you!”  
  
“Do as I say, don't do as I do.”  
  
“Technically, you didn't "say", you just glared.”  
  
Howard glared again, this time it said "don't fuck with me".  
  
“Ok, ok, sorry. The point is, I'm too shit to be on a team of elementals! They don't even count as mutants, technically, they're a whole other leagues above! They don't even originate from this world.”  
  
“Hence my reasoning for putting you with them.”  
  
“What?”  
  
“That's beside the point, I'm paying them a fuck tonne of money so they agreed to let you join. I know you will find your place soon enough.”  
  
Tony made a face.  
  
“How are you so sure?”  
  
“I know a lot more things than you. I have enough knowledge to share with a thousand generations.”  
  
“And the drama queen rears her ugly head once again.” Tony muttered, thinking Howard didn't hear him.  
  
Howard simply smirked and stayed silent, putting his full attention on the road ahead.  
  
About five minutes passed before Tony looked back at Howard, his face slightly crumpled with worry.  
  
“Babe, don't do that to your face, you'll get wrinkles real soon.” Howard said softly as he outstretched a hand to rub his thumb over the creases between Tony's full brows.  
  
“Dad, are you just trying to get rid of me?” Tony mumbled.  
  
Howard gasped violently and slowed suddenly to a stop.  
  
“Anthony, do not be ridiculous! I love you, so, so much, I thought you knew that. I simply want the best for you and though I know a lot, there is only so much I can teach you, the rest will have to come from your own experience and I feel as if the best place for you to learn such things will be at the academy. They taught me so much that I know and I can only hope they do the same, maybe even more for you. Have some faith, Anthony, even if it's not in the world, at least in me. I will always, always have your best interest at heart.”  
  
Tony looked up at Howard through his dark, long lashes, big, golden brown eyes glinting innocently in wonder.  
  
“You really mean that?” He asked in a small voice, a little embarrassed that he'd asked that question.  
  
“Every word, my love. Now, sit up and ready yourself as we're about to-”  
  
The blaring of an obnoxious car horn cut through Howard's dramatic dialogue and Tony could have sworn he saw steam leave Howard's ears.  
  
“Could you please fuck off? I was trying to have a fucking heart to heart! People are such inconsiderate ass holes! Jesus Christ on the mother fucking cross!” Howard shouted out of his now open window, waving a fist back and forth at the offender, not even acknowledging the fact that he was still parked in the middle of the road without his hazard lights on.  
  
“Right, where was I?” He asked, suddenly turning back to the pleasant demeanor he had five seconds ago.  
  
Tony simply threw his head back and cackled.  
  
  
...  
  


  
The car rolled between two huge gates, gates so big, elegant and golden you'd think they were the gates to heaven itself.   
  
“These gates have been here since the birth of this place.” Howard informed quietly as he drove slowly into the grounds, allowing his son to gaze upon the beauty for a while.   
  
“When was this place founded?” Tony asked, wonder in his voice.   
  
“Before the ancient Egyptians, my dear.”   
  
Howard chuckled at Tony's shocked gasp.   
  
“They were a gift from the first and last eternal that came to this earth. They also left another gift but that one has not been found yet.”   
  
“That's so cool,” Tony gasped in amazement as the finally drove past the massive gates.   
  
Howard nodded in agreement.   
  
The car drove between two extremely high, impossibly green hedges that bracketed the road, blocking out all apart from the sky above that for some reason, looked a lot more blue than it did before they crossed the barrier. They finally cleared the hedges and entered the main grounds. The view took Tony's breath away as he observed the beauty of the place.   
  
The road led to a fountain, large enough to be a small swimming pool that looked as if it was carved from pure marble with solid gold accents and little Cupid's decorating it. The fountain doubled as a mini roundabout with three exits. The first led to a strange, modern looking silver arena that had odd spikes protruding from the top. The third led to a warehouse like building that was, like everything else, impossibly large. The second exit led to the main attraction, a huge mansion. The mansion looked as if it came straight from the Victorian era with a splash of modernisms that somehow blended effortlessly. The tall stone walls were covered in beautiful, purple flowered ivy that Tony had never seen anywhere before.    
  
“Wow, I told them to calm it with the welcome party.” Howard muttered, a slight smirk, however, betrayed his tone of voice.   
  
“What do you mean by "welcome party"? There is no one here.” Tony questioned, turning his head to stare at his father, slightly worried for his mental health.   
  
“Lesson one, kiddo, don't trust everything your eye can't see.”   
  
“What? That doesn't even make-”   
  
Howard clicked his fingers and it seemed to echo across the universe which completely puzzled Tony. Suddenly, the world became clear and there was a huge group of people in front of the building, perhaps a hundred or so.   
  
“What. The. Fuck?”   
  
“Smetti di bestemmiare, Antonio!”    
  
“Why are you speaking Italian? You're not even Italian!”   
  
“Well your mother is, so are you and it's your first language, therefore, I'd think if I spoke a different language, you'd understand me for once.” Howard sassed.   
  
“I understand English perfectly well!”   
  
“Apparently not.” Howard deadpanned.   
  
“Hey, that's besides the point! How on earth did you just do that?” Tony screeched.   
  
“Oh, hey, look! It's Joe Rogers! I haven't seen that old dog in years!” Howard exclaimed, getting excited as he finally parked his car a little away from the group while effectively deflecting Tony's question.   
  
A tall, lean, but muscular blonde man ran towards the car, followed by a tall, similar in likeness, boy who was, however, built like a Greek god. The man opened the door for Howard while the boy/god opened Tony's door and took his hand to help him out of the low car. Tony stuttered an awkward, slightly accented thanks that may have come out in Italian rather than English, then scurried around the car to his father who was now in the arms of the handsome blonde man. He was more than a little shocked when the man lifted his father into his arms and turned them slowly in a little circle, laughing softly into each other's necks. Tony's eyes almost popped out of his head when the man almost planted a kiss on his father's lips but was blocked by Howard's hand. The kiss was redirected to Howard's cheek, very close to his mouth, making Howard's face light up in a dimpled smile that Tony had never seen before. He was so used to seeing an underlying sadnesses or annoyance in Howard's eyes. He also recognise love and adoration when Howard looked at him but he'd never seen such heart warming happiness and love of that kind in Howard's eyes, not even when he looked at his mother. This man was his father's soulmate, a man that he'd been forced to stay away from due to society and responsibilities. Howard had never been happy, not truly happy in all the years he'd been away from this man. The man kept Howard aloft with both his arms still firmly around his waist.   
  
“Hey, poppet, it's been awhile.” The man said softly as he tilted his head up to lock eyes with Howard, his voice so full of love that it hurt Tony's chest and filled his eyes with tears.   
  
“Hey, Joe, I missed you.” Howard replied, looking down with both his arms around Joe's neck in embrace.   
  
Tony snuffled a little too harshly, causing the two to jump apart, both pairs of eyes turning on him. Tony felt his face redden and he covered his face with both his hands on embarrassment at his outburst.   
  
“What's wrong, darling? Why are you upset?” Howard asked, detaching himself from Joe and reaching for Tony.   
  
“Oh my God, nothing, sorry. I'm so embarrassed. Non ho mai provato quel tipo di felicità prima e ora piango senza una buona ragione.” Tony laughed shakily as he dried the few tears that fell down his cheeks.   
  
Howard rolled his eyes and kissed his young son's hair affectionately.   
  
“Chill out, kiddo, I've got enough love left for you.” Howard laughed lightly as he ran a hand over Tony's silky soft brown hair.   
  
“I'm not worried about that.” Tony replied softly.   
  
Howard looked at Tony with that sad but loving smile that he hated so much then turned back to Joe. He took Joe's hand and drew him closer to Tony who went a little more red under the blonde man's gaze.   
  
“Joe, this is my baby boy, Anthony Edward Stark.” Howard said with a twinkle in his eye.   
  
“Hey, number one, I'm not a baby, number two, call me Tony and number three, hi! Lovely to meet you! I wish I'd heard at least a little something about you but unfortunately, I haven't.”   
  
“Hello, little one. It's lovely to finally meet you. Unlike yourself, Howard has told me plenty about you and may I just say, that baby picture of you stuck in a toilet is just hilarious.”   
  
Tony's jaw dropped and he turned his red face to Howard. Embarrassed didn't even cover the way he felt at that particular moment in time.   
  
"Papá!” Tony shrieked in horror.   
  
Howard tossed his head back and let out a belly laugh, one hand on his stomach, the other grasped Joe's shoulder for support. Joe smiled down at Howard the looked back up at Tony, his eyes twinkling with happiness. It filled Tony with a physical warmth that he'd never felt before.   
  
“Anyway, that, behind you is my own son, Steven Rogers, your ol' dad's already met him but I feel like you two will get on splendidly.” Joe said as he wrapped a long arm around Howard's waist, allowing him to lean against his sturdy body for support.

  
Tony turned his head to look at the blonde bombshell that had helped him out of the car and felt his blood rush to his face again. He'd blushed more times on the last five minutes than he had in his entire life. He had a feeling that if he didn't get a grip soon, he'd be permanently red and awkward.   
  
“Ciao, no, buon giorno, ah shit... Hola, what? Hey hello hi... Fuck.”   
  
“Um, maybe later” Steve replied with a smirk and a little hip check.   
  
Tony squeaked and, if it was even possible, he turned even more red. He covered his face with his hands that he'd pulled into his red sweater, yep, he face was never going to return to its usual colour.   
  
“Steve!” Joe cried as he was forced to hold up Howard who was now cackling so forcefully he could barely stand. “I sorry for Steve's behaviour, he's never usually like this, I don't know what's gotten into him.”   
  
“I think he wants to get into Tony” Howard gasped.   
  
“Howard!”   
  
“Dad!” Tony practically screamed, his face now throbbing in embarrassment.   
  
“So, where you from? You've got a mega sexy accent, accents are a turn on.” Steve said with a wink, getting a little closer to Tony.   
  
Tony just wished the floor would open up and swallow him whole.   
  
“Hey, don't get too flirty now, he's only fifteen.” Howard said. Though he was smirking, there was an undertone of protectiveness.   
  
Steve's eyes almost bulged out of his head.   
  
“What?”    
  
It was Tony's turn to laugh.   
  
“You can look but you can't touch, caro.” Tony replied with a wink, milking his slight Italian accent to the fullest.   
  
It was Steve's turn to blush.   
  
Both patients were leaning on each other, sides cramping with the force of their laughter as they looked at the expression of horror creep across Steve's face.   
  
“Ha ha, very funny.” Steve muttered with both his arms crossed over his massive chest.   
  
“It is quite funny, watching you flirt with a baby. Where's your class gone, oh wait, you never had any.” A smooth female voice interjected from behind the boys.    
  
Tony watched as a pale, red painted fingernail hand slid over the huge expanse of Steve's shoulder. A woman, the most beautiful Tony had probably ever seen, popped up beside them. She had waist length black hair that was loosely curled and pinned away from her pale but flawless face under a wide brimmed black hat. She was trailed by a girl probably around Steve's age but with short, dark red hair. The girl did not give off the same calm vibe as the woman. She gave off a dark, deadly energy that set Tony's teeth on edge. He suddenly felt all the happiness inside him leave, giving way to dark and complex emotions. He edged closer to his father and Joe.   
  
“Natalie Rushman, it's good to see you, I haven't seen you since Mumbai.” Howard greeted with a nod.

  
“True, that was a hell of a time.”    
  
“If you mean hell by the fucking fire and brimstone falling from the sky then I fucking agree.” Joe deadpanned, earning a small slap from Howard.   
  
“Joe! Stop swearing in front of my baby!” Howard huffed.   
  
“Not a baby.” Tony muttered with an eye roll.   
  
“No, she means it was a fucking great time! I'd do it again!” another voice crowed.   
  
Tony watched as another bloke joined the little circle, grabbing Howard in a rough side hug, causing the man to yelp and bat at the sculpted forearm that threatened to strangle him. He and the other teens stepped back a little to make room for the other teen that came with the unnamed man.   
  
“Sure, if you have a death wish.” Joe muttered.   
  
“Barney, Tony, Tony Barney.” Howard said, pointing to the man then Tony.   
  
“Hey kid, I'm Barney, the best guy you'll know and that little shit is my lil bro, Clint.   
  
“Hey man, how's it?”   
  
“Ciao,” Tony replied with a small wave.   
  
“That was so much smoother that what you did with me.” Steve commented with a little elbow to Tony's side.   
  
Tony flipped him off.   
  
“You're Italian?” The girl asked, staring intensely into Tony's eyes.   
  
“Kinda.” Tony replied self consciously in his best American accent.   
  
“He is, it's hot.” Steve replied, wrapping an arm around Tony's shoulders.   
  
“He's like, twelve, you want to get arrested?” Clint exclaimed.   
  
“Shut up, I have dibs on him.” Steve reply, holding him closer.   
  
“Not if I win him over, not that hard to do if it's against you, punk.” a dark haired boy interrupted from over Tony's right shoulder.   
  
Tony jumped a foot in the air and tried to play down the girly scream he let out.   
  
“Hey, ditch him and I'll make you scream like that every night.” The brunette boy said with a wink.   
  
“Hey hey hey! First of all, I'm fifteen! Stop flirting with me! Second of all, who are you? You people keep multiplying and I have no idea where you're coming from. Third of all, where am I and why do all of you know my dad? Is this a reunion because I thought my dad said he was taking me to a new school? I'm mega confused!” Tony ranted as he batted off Steve's arm.   
  
“Hey, what's the stitch?” Another girl asked, popping up right on the other side of Joe.   
  
“Dear God, more ridiculously good looking people.” Tony sighed.   
  
“So you think I'm good looking?” Bucky asked, moving into Tony's space once again.   
  
“Hey, I was going to say that.” Steve pouted.   
  
“Not you two.” Tony groaned, pushing both the boys away by their faces.   
  
“So you think I'm good looking?” The first unnamed girl asked, her intimidating eyes boring into Tony's soul once again.   
  
“Um...” Tony gulped, trying to hide behind both Steve and apparently Buck? That couldn't be his real name, right?   
  
“Natasha, stop scaring the poor boy! Look at him, he's petrified.” Natalie said albeit patronisingly.   
  
Tony felt his face grow red in annoyance.   
  
“Guys, leave him be, he's just a bit overwhelmed. Tony, come.” Howard ordered softly, extending an arm to his slightly pissed off son. “Darling, these are my old friends. We used to go to this academy when we were younger. There's Joe, Natalie, Barney and Rebecca. Steve is Joe's son, Natasha is Natalie's daughter, Clint is Barney's younger brother as you already know and Bucky is Rebecca's younger brother.” Howard explained, pointing to the respective people as he went along. “Everyone, this is, as you may well known, my son Anthony. Yes he is Italian, yes he is fifteen, please stop flirting with him. Thanks.”   
  
“That wasn't very confusing at all.” Tony deadpanned, throwing his arms up.   
  
Howard chuckled and ran his hand over Tony's hair affectionately.    
  
“This school will help you handle your mutation with more ease while making sure you don't feel out of place. I know you felt like the odd one out in your old school so I guessed you'd feel more at home here, with my old family. Maybe you could find your own little family with time.”   
  
“I mean, can you talk about my mutation here? Like isn't it a bad thing?” Tony asked, puzzled at the sudden change.   
  
“What? No! You only get to go here if you have a mutation or something more! Everyone here has a mutation or something more.”   
  
“Everyone? Even you?” Tony asked with his arms crossed over his chest in disbelief.   
  
“Well, yes, kind of. My situation is a little different. But basically-”   
  
“Your dad is an omega level elemental, kid.” Barney lazily interrupted, picking his nails with a small knife that had seemingly materialized out of nowhere.   
  
“An elemental?” Tony shreaked.   
  
“Fuck you, Barton! I was going to tell him myself!” Howard muttered.   
  
“Why didn't he know the entire time? He's your child!” Natalie argued.   
  
“I was going to tell him when he was ready!”   
  
“When would he be ready? When you were ready to tell him? What if you were never ready?” Natasha said softly but menacingly, inching a little closer to Howard.   
  
“Don't be like that. It's his choice who he tells and when he does it. Stop being so critical of his personal choices. Also, Natalie, tell your daughter to stop filling the air with dark magic, it's making me feel sick.” Rebecca said softly, moving to rub Howard's shoulder softly empathetically.   
  
“Natasha, chill.” Natalie ordered without looking at her daughter.   
  
The weird chill and dark feeling in the air dissolved and Tony feel as if he'd just exited a gross, packed bus on a rainy day and stepped into a grassy field with a slight warm breeze in the summertime. He let himself relax.   
  
“So are the rest of you elementals too or something? Were you part of like an epic superhero team or some shit with like mega cool superhero names or something?”   
  
The adults looked around at each other with a strange look upon their faces.   
  
“What, was I right because I wasn't being serious.”   
  
“Yeah, you were partially correct. So we were apart of a team but that information is classified, we did have names but that's classified too and they do all have abilities-”   
  
“But let me guess, that's all classified too.” Tony said with an eye roll.   
  
“Nope, I can in fact tell you all about that, if you guys don't mind..?” No objected so Howard carried on. “So Steve is a fire elemental, Bucky is an ice elemental, Clint is a metal manipulator and Natasha is a dark magi which is a person who can do spells and voodoo and shit.”   
  
“Basically.” Natasha added with a shrug.   
  
“Natalie is a mage, Rebecca is a fae, Barney is an earth elemental, Joe is an air elemental and I am more of a complicated, long story type of elemental.   
  
“He basically can control dimensional doorways. He can also control the elements, kind of.” Joe added.   
  
“Not very well.” Howard muttered as he rubbed the back of his head nervously.   
  
“I'm not even going to defend you, you're right, you're really bad at that.”   
  
Howard made a face at Joe then linked arms with both him and his son, pulling them both along to the crowd that had gathered in front of the main building.   
  
“Come along guys, now that we've gotten this all straight, we should go meet the others, I haven't seen everyone in about twenty years.”   
  
“Twenty years?” Tony cried in disbelief.   
  
“Yep, I've had a lot of responsibilities and stuff to do. Had to raise you, didn't I?”    
  
“I've only been alive for the past fifteen years. What were you doing before?” Tony asked, vaguely puzzled.   
  
“Everything else.” Howard cryptically replied, letting go of the two other males then walked over to a new bloke and pulled him in for a strong hug.    
  
“Hey, Howie, I haven't seen you in too long.” The man said, his warm brown eyes glinting with unshed tears.   
  
“Hey, Brucie, it's been too many years.” Howard whispered as he softly pat Bruce's back.   
  
“Looks like you have a new addition.” Bruce said with a smile when he and Howard finally broke apart.   
  
“I mean, I don't really call him a new addition anymore since he is fifteen, but seeing as you've never seen him, I guess you have a valid point.” Howard chuckled as he smoothed a hand over Tony's fluffy brown hair.   
  
“Ciao,” Tony said with a little wave accompanied with a sweet smile.   
  
“He's adorable!” Bruce stage whispered, leaning towards Howard a little while maintaining eye contact with Tony who began to pout a little at being called adorable.   
  
“Better not say that too loudly or he'll have a fit.” Howard stage whispered back, trying his best to hold back his laughter.   
  
“I have ears, Howard.” Tony mumbled with a glare accompanied with his arms crossed over his thin chest.   
  
“I know, Anthony. And don't you pretend that you don't enjoy being called adorable.” Howard chided with a gentle flick of Tony's ear.   
  
“Yeah, when I was like, five.” Tony sassed.   
  
“You are like one decimal place above five, same thing.” Howard commented dismissively.   
  
Tony stuck his tongue out at Howard and Bruce was forced to hold back an "aww" as he watched the pair interact. Another pair of individuals, one large and the other lithe and small, popped out of the mingling crowd, the younger a very controlled and regal sort of individual and the older likened to a golden retriever puppy.   
  
“Brother Stark! We meet again!” The young blonde man exclaimed, drawing the dark haired father and sons' attention.    
  
Howard's face was split by a joyous grin of excitement and Tony had the feeling that this man was a very important part of Howard's life.   
  
“Thor, long time no see!” Howard crowd as he let himself be quite literally swept off his feet by the blonde giant of a man.   
  
“I feel at peace now that I have laid eyes upon your radiant face once again. My heart has longed for yours all these years an it has now been granted the satisfaction of-”   
  
“Hi, Thor.” Came the blunt voice of Joe from behind Tony, causing the fifteen year old to jump a foot in the air.   
  
“Bloody hell, don't do that!” Tony cried.   
  
“Greetings, Joseph. It's a great pleasure to see your face once again.” Thor replied stiffly, putting Howard down only for him to be grabbed into Joe's side and held securely in place.   
  
“I see you have reacquainted yourself with Howard.”   
  
“Joe, quit it.” Howard hissed at the tall blonde man as he tried to escape his iron grip on his waist.   
  
“I thought all these years away would have caused you to be less possessive but I can see I was completely wrong.”   
  
“Well, seeing as there are vultures circling I guess I need to be a little possessive of my possessions, don't you?”   
  
“Hey! Stop this nonsensical behaviour! Both of you, we are not children anymore and there are sure as hell no personal possessions here I would hope.” Howard said angrily, “This attitude is revolting and I thought it was left behind twenty years ago but I guess I was wrong, I guess neither of you are capable of change.”    
  
Howard pushed Joe off and took his confused son by the hand and walked away from a regretful Joe and Thor.   
  
“You just had to go and do it, didn't you?” Was all Tony heard from Bruce as he was swept into the sea of people.

  
“What just happened there?” Tony asked as he awkwardly scurried along behind his annoyed father.  
  
“Nothing, baby, don't worry about it.” Howard replied bluntly and Tony knew he just bad to let this go or his father might just explode.  
  
Tony simply let himself be swept away by his father, stopping by new faces and individuals he had never seen nevermind heard mentioned before and pretended he was having the time of his life. All his mind seemed to linger on was the strange interactions between Joe, this so called Thor and his highly irritated father. He would get to the bottom of it, no matter how long it took. Consider it a highly important topic of scientific research. He did realize that he probably shouldn't be poking his delicate little nose in other people's personal business but he simply couldn't help himself. He needed to decode the dysfunctional love triangle that was Joe, Thor and his father. After all, it was for science, what could possibly go wrong?  
  
  
  
_Translations_  
  
_Smetti di bestemmiare, Antonio!_ \- Stop cursing, Antonio!  
  
_Non ho mai provato quel tipo di felicità prima e ora piango senza una buona ragione_ \- I've never felt that kind of happiness before and now I'm crying for no good reason.  
  
_Papá_ \- Dad/Father  
  
_Ciao_ \- Hello  
  
_Buon giorno_ \- Good morning  
  
_Hola_ \- Hello  
  
_Caro_ \- Dear/sweetheart (patronisingly?)  
  
  


 

 

 

 

**_Chapter 2: Syke! (Aka, I wanna go Home)_ **   


  
Tony was completely right when he had told his father that this was a bad idea.   
  
It all seemed well and good the previous day when they all got acquainted, had a little welcome back party for Howard and received their new rooms but that didn't require getting to know each others abilities. However, now that that was all over, Tony realized the fun was short lived and he was being thrown off at the deep end and now he was going to be made to demonstrate abilities that he never even had.   
  
“So guys, today is basically just a show and tell. For everyone to be able to work with you, they need to know what you have to be able to work with it. What I am going to tell you to do in a moment is just to give a simple explanation of your ability and then give a short but effective demonstration of said ability. You will need to display most of what you can do and if you have too much to show, just stick to the main part. This is not at all to show off or make anyone else feel bad if their ability is not yet as advanced. You are different ages and development levels, both physically and mentally. Some abilities are not very reliable and only like to emerge when the individual is feeling an adrenaline spike. You will go in age order that means, Loki, you are first.”   
  
Loki cocked her hip, stared Joe in the eye and simply said, “No.”   
  
Joe, who decided that he couldn't be bothered to counteract teen arrogance today, sighed irritability and turned back to address all of the teens once again.   
  
“Fine then, whoever wants to go first, can go first. All I'm saying is that all of you will have to do this at some point or you will have to face the consequences.”   
  
All the teens awkwardly shuffled around and looked at eachother, silently begging someone to go first.   
  
“Well go on then!” Joe ordered.   
  
Silence.   
  
“One, two, thr-”   
  
“Okay, okay, I'll go first then since you're so desperate.” Steve piped up with a rather camp roll of his eyes.   
  
Joe narrowed his eyes at his cocky son and sent a gust of air his feet to trip him over. The other kids laughed at the large blonde boy's expense which said boy did not find amusing at all.   
  
“Yeah, laugh it up, I will burn all your assess.” He muttered angrily at his friends.   
  
“There will be no burning of asses. There will only be you shutting up and starting your presentation.” Joe interjected, completely unamused.   
  
Steve huffed at his father but did not question his authority and began his presentation.   
  
“So guys, as you all know, my name is Steve and I am a fire elemental.”    
  
“Hi Steve.” Bucky replies slowly, in imitation of a group therapy greeting.   
  
“Shut up, Bucky.”   
  
“Yes sir.”   
  
“Anyway, before I was rudely interrupted, I was saying that I am a fire elemental. I basically can cause atoms to produce enough friction to create fire. It's like fire manipulation but I don't need a fire source to activate my ability. Long story short I'm pretty cool.” Steve finished with a smirk.   
  
“Boys like you are all talk.” Natasha drawled, twisting her hair around a finger.   
  
“Oh really now, Tash? You're gonna be like that?”   
  
“Yeah, I'm gonna be like that.”   
  
Steve rolled his eyes then shook out his limbs very slowly, taking his time to ensure that he was properly stretched out.   
  
“Hurry up then, we don't have all day!” Clint barked.   
  
Steve suddenly lifted his head and quite literally breathed out a blanket of fire at the now shocked and screaming Clint. Just before the flames touched any of them, the fire parted and rolled around the group, leaving all of them shocked but unharmed.   
  
Steve turned in a slow circle while still blowing flames from his lips, filling the room with roaring, orange flames. Though the entire room was filled with fire, the group of teens and Joe remained flame free though a little overheated. Steve turned back to them, his handsome face almost glowing in the fire and his eyes shone gold as he winked at an astonished Tony who was just wondering how on earth he was going to impress the room with his less than mediocre abilities.    
  
As quickly as the flames arrived, they disappeared and the group of teens and Joe were left standing in an empty, flameless room. Steve made a finger gun with his right hand and blew off imaginary smoke and went back to stand in his vacated space beside Tony, all without any noise.   
  
“James, you're up next.” Joe proclaimed, breaking the silence and clapping both his hands together once.   
  
“What? Why?”   
  
“You seemed to enjoy interrupting Steven's presentation so your next, as a forfeit.” Joe said with a little smirk.   
  
Bucky groaned and dragged his feet to the middle of the room.   
  
”Hi, hello, I'm Bucky and I'm an Ice elemental. I basically do the same thing as Steve but it's on the complete fucking,” Joe glared at him, “Sorry, Joe; complete freaking opposite spectrum. I pretty much freeze rather than burn.” Bucky informed, his tone exceedingly bored. “My ability is a little bit uncontrollable so sorry in advance.”   
  
Bucky looked up at Joe quickly for guidance and with a confident nod from his best friend's father, he turned his back to the tiny class of elites and closed his eyes.   
  
Miniscule ice crystals formed on his eyelashes as he reached out with his power, beginning the process. He flexed his hands and turned back to the group when he felt ice travel up his fingers, into his palms then his forearms. With a synchronised swoop of both arms in front of his body, palms facing the floor, the entire room was encased in a thick layer of frost that had spread with an Arctic gust of wind. Bucky brought both arms back up to his chest, his left hand clenched in a fist, the right clutched over it. The ice elemental raised his right foot and slammed it down after a few seconds of delay. Just as his foot touched the ground, his eyes opened and Tony felt a gasp leave his lips. Bucky's eyes were burning white, icy blue, so luminous that it would put the sun to shame, so bright they slightly hurt Tony's own eyes. Ice splintered out from under Bucky's right foot and shot towards the teens who instinctively covered their faces. Ice formed under their feet and they all shuffled to remain standing and not on flat on their arse in front of the others. Bucky pointed up to the sealing and snow began to form above them, the thickness and velocity it fell in increased rapidly until they were standing in an indoor blizzard.    
  
Tony could only barely make out Bucky in front of them, slowly rising into the air as the snow storm intensified. At this point, Tony realized that his lips were sticking to his braces due to the fact his mouth was open in awe and he could not feel his limbs at all. When he realised that his fingers were starting to turn blue he began to panic. He felt as if there may not be enough control in this lesson and he that might end up in a hospital due to extreme hypothermia or better yet, frostbite, of the entire body. However, his mild panic was cut short when Steve grasped his hand and began to gently warm him, the heat slowly traveling up his arm and though his entire body. Joe also realized that Bucky's powers were going a bit out of whack and controlling Bucky more than he was controlling them therefore swiftly put an end to the whole intense snowstorm ordeal by counteracting Bucky's ability with his own.    
  
Bucky settled back onto the ground, somehow made all the snow disappear and when he had finished, his eyes returned to their original shade. He unsteadily took an awkward little bow and shuffled back to his position that he had vacated a little earlier, his steps very uncoordinated as if he had been weakened or was very dizzy.   
  
“Ugh, I'm going to show you all how a pro controls,” Natasha stared down Bucky intensely until he awkwardly cleared his throat and looked down at his feet, “their ability rather than let it control them.”   
  
The red haired girl strutted into the middle of the room and stood very still as she faced them to describe her ability.   
  
“I am what people call a dark magi. I specialise in the dark arts. Anything creepy, dark and questionable, I'm your girl. I also like to magnify and isolate a certain emotion.   
  
She locks eyes with Tony.   
  
“Fear.”   
  
The room was plunged into darkness and all Tony could hear was his own breathing and his heart thumping in his chest. Suddenly, Natasha's face appeared a few meters away from him, only the face illuminated, the shadows on her face cast by what looked like white torch light coming from under her chin area. Her face seemed as if it was getting slowly closer then in a blink, it swooped towards him, like a fast facial zoom in a horror movie. Natasha's face was centimetres from his now. She held a candle in her left hand between their faces, the only source of light in the dark room. She smirked then suddenly, the candle was snuffed out. Tony's breath quickened, his heartbeat following in tow. He saw a weird panning shot of his own, petrified face, illuminated in an eerie, pale blue light. His point of view panned back into his own first person perspective and for a moment, there was nothing, not even the sound of his own breathing or heartbeat. Before he could even process that thought properly, Natasha's face appeared before him, blood dripping from the eyes. The scene seemed like was flashing, from pitch darkness back to Natasha's dimly lit face. In each flash, there was more blood pouring from the girls face, each time, a new orifice leaked profusely with blood. In the last flash, the face opened its bloody maw and tilted it's head to the right, a dreadful moan leaving it's saturated lips. An almost sporadic set of flashes brought the bloody faces of his new classmates into his view, their own horrific moans mingling with Natasha's own. Tony felt his stomach clench and convulse in disgust and with a sick groan, he emptied his stomach into his waiting hands. Rather than the half digested food he expected to find in his hands when he opened his eyes. He found himself holding his own bloody heart in his hands, still beating and warm. His view panned out again and he was once again looking at his own face but this time, rather than seeing a fear stricken version of himself, he saw a bloody, empty eye socket face, mouth open in a silent scream. Tony felt himself cry out in fear and suddenly, the lights above his head flickered on and off followed by a loud crash that brought him completely out of his trance. He looked up to see glass falling from the strip lights above the class' heads almost in slow motion. Loki simply flicked a wrist and the glass floated back up and reformed as the light covers. She pointed to the lights and they all ignited once again, casting a warm glow upon the group. With a simple bow, she went back to paying the bare minimum attention to the current situation at hand that was Joe turning red in fury.   
  
“What the hell was that about? What did you do?” Joe bellowed at Natasha as he swiftly made his way over to a shaking and almost crying Tony stark.   
  
“I was demonstrating my abilities, just as you asked.” She replied calmly, “You told us to demonstrate what we can do and that is exactly what I did. I showed our newest member of our little group what I can do so that he will know what to expect on the field. It would be irresponsible if I failed to show him what I can do now. If we are ever caught out in a real life situation that requires me to use the full extent of my abilities, he'd be caught unaware. So, Mr. Rogers, I was only doing as I was told so if you feel the need to remove me from this session for me doing what I was told, I would think again. Things might not go so well if you upset me by being hypocritical and showing favouritism.”   
  
“We probably would never need her freakish witchy powers in the field anyway.” Steve muttered to Bucky who didn't know how to reply.   
  
“Are you threatening me?” Joe growled at Natasha as he held Tony's shoulder tightly.   
  
“No, just making you aware of the possibilities that may transpire due to certain choices we make, Mr. Rogers.” Natasha replied smoothly with a smirk as she tilted her head "innocently" to her right.   
  
Joe didn't say a thing as he stared Natasha down for at least two minutes before she looked away with a satisfied smile on her lips.   
  
Joe turned back to Tony and pulled him to the centre.   
  
“Come now, It's your turn.”   
  
Tony gulped in fear as Joe used his air manipulation to levitate a small table covered with strange objects towards them. He was simply not ready for this.   
  
“I don't think I can do this, Joe.” Tony said softly, his voice shaking slightly with fear.

  
“Sure you can, kiddo! All you need to do is follow my instructions. You need to remember that you are here for a reason, okay?”   
  
Tony gulped again but nodded anyway, if only to please Joe.   
  
“So on this table, we have a variety of things linked to various elements. If you're an elemental, at least one of these will react to you when you concentrate on it. We also have a few other items linked to other popular abilities throughout the academy. We even have the one that your father used to find out what his ability was!” Joe told him excitedly as he picked up an odd cube with symbols engraved on the wooden sides.   
  
A strange rose gold, sphere shaped cage with a unique gem inside caught Tony's attention. The gem that refracted or absorbed all the colours Tony had ever seen floated in the very centre of the spherical cage, rotating very slowly and steadily.   
  
“What's that?” Tony asked Joe.   
  
“It's just some old thing we have for some reason.” Joe replied, brushing Tony off as he organised the objects that he wanted Tony to test out in front of him in a line. “Right, here we have the objects that channel the energy of an elemental. What I want you to do is focus on the first object as hard as you can. If you feel a mental block, it's not the element for you.”   
  
Tony turned his attention to the first object furthest to his left. In front of him was a clear, glass ball that looked remarkably light, almost like a bubble. Tony cleared his mind and surprisingly, he could feel the energy of the little object. He used the connection he felt and tried to gently roll the ball but instead, he accidentally exploded it, causing little glass shards hit both Joe and Tony.   
  
“Oh my God, I'm so sorry about that!” Tony cried.   
  
“No, no, it's ok, it just means that you have a connection with the element of air. You can move onto the next one now if you'd like, it wouldn't be surprising if nothing happens but some people do have an affinity to more than one element, like your dad.”   
  
Tony nodded his head and turned back to the table. The next object was a simple rock that Tony already felt a connection to and mentally split it down the middle. Without speaking, he moved onto the glass of water which he felt connected to also. For some reason, all he could do with the water was bubble it a little pathetically and before he could get too embarrassed to even move, the focused on the last item, a candle. The candle was more of a weak connection but he still managed to manipulate the flame a little. After making the flame go out and ignite a few times, he broke all his links and went back to staring at the gem in the spherical cage. He stared at it until it rolled towards him and the gem inside picked up momentum and rotated faster and faster. Tony reached out his left hand to touch when Joe smacked his hand lightly.   
  
“Ow! What the heck was that for?” Tony cried while he rubbed his hand.   
  
“You must never touch that.” Joe said bluntly. “Well done for today, all of you, class dismissed.”   
  
“Hey! I never even got to do my demonstration!” Clint cried.   
  
“Class dismissed! End of story!” Joe snapped.   
  
“Un-fucking-believable!” Clint muttered as he threw his arms up and followed the others out of the room.   
  
Tony was the last to leave and as he turned back to look at Joe one last time, he caught him staring at the gem in the spherical cage. It wasn't moving anymore. In fact, the gem was sitting on the bottom of the cage, completely dull and unmoving.   
  
“Hey, guys, what was that about?” Tony asked as he scurried over to the group of older students who had assembled in the little waiting room that connect the training room to the main hall.   
  
They all (minus Bucky who was on his phone and Loki who had miraculously disappeared) looked at him and the only emotion Tony could feel pouring out of their very pores was scorn.   
  
“Oh, ok then, I guess I'll see all you,” Tony was suddenly alone as the last person slammed the door. “later.”   
  
Tony felt himself deflate even further. He kind of just wanted to go back home now.   
  


  
...  
  
  
Tony put down his phone after reading a rather sad article about how to make friends and went into the bathroom. He looked in the mirror and examined his face. A young, freckled and rosy cheeked face looked back at him. He looked about twelve and his red banded and gold wired braces made him look even younger. Tony came to the conclusion that he really couldn't fix that so he settled for second best and simply brushed his teeth to make sure that at least his breath was appealing. After finishing that task and pointlessly messing with his hair, he practiced his smile in his mirror. After realising that he looked even younger when he smiled, showing off annoyingly adorable dimples, he decided that a neutral look would be more forthcoming so he settled for that. After straightening out his red sweater and dark blue dungarees, he hopped out of his bedroom, feeling hopeful that he had this whole "friend making" thing in the bag.  
  
Tony walked down the corridor that lead to the common room and almost barged in before he heard his name.   
  
Tony ground to a halt at the door and though he knew it was rude, he listened in to their conversation.  
  
“Joe literally ended the class because of him, Steve! You can't try to say that he didn't, just because he's your dad!” Clint barked as he violently chomped on a potato chip.  
  
“Yeah, fair enough, that was a dick move. Why is that kid so special?” Steve muttered a little bitterly.  
  
“I swear you were drooling all over the kid when he first turned up, Rogers.” Bucky interjected, flicking a piece of popcorn at the blonde who literally cremated the poor piece of corn in mid air.  
  
“Whatever, I'm over him now. I swear my dad likes him more than he likes me.”  
  
“Dude, you are so jealous!”

  
“So what? Wouldn't you be if your dad liked some random Italian kid more than he liked you? Just because he's the child of his ex boyfriend?”  
  
“I don't have a dad anymore, he's dead.” Bucky said bluntly.  
  
“Fuck, sorry, Buck.” Steve apologized with a wince.  
  
“Whatever.” He replied, stuffing more popcorn into his mouth.  
  
“Case in point, that kid is only here because his daddy's a self entitled ass hole and he raised a spoiled little rich kid who gets anything he wants because daddy throws money at his problems.” Natasha started, picking up a mug of tea before blowing on it gently.  
  
  
“Did you see his demonstration? Why did Joe even stop for that? I mean, is he fucking blind? The boy is too weak to be on the team!” Clint spat, spraying chewed up chips everywhere.  
  
“Hey, don't talk about my father like that! He might be nonsensical at times but hes still my dad!” Steve barked at Clint, chest puffing up.  
  
“Soz man but it's true.” Clint shrugged, stuffing more chips into his mouth.  
  
Steve slapped the bag out of his hand violently.  
  
“Dude! I was eating that!” Clint cried.  
  
“Now you're not.”  
  
“Asshole,”   
  
Steve simply smirked nastily.  
  
“He's just a pathetic little boy who doesn't deserve to be here. He is a waste of valuable resources and I will sing and dance with happiness when he finally fucks off. He doesn't belong here, he's not one of us.” Natasha spat as she violently mixed the tea she was drinking.  
  
Tony gasped and stumbled backwards, drawing the attention to himself accidentally. Most of them had the decency to look slightly guilty where as Natasha simply gave him a bitter smirk and waved at him.  
  
Tony turned and ran down the hall, away from the bitter words, away from spiteful people and right into some poor unprepared girl. They both cried out and for some reason, only Tony hit the floor and the girl remained standing.  
  
“Oh my goodness, I'm so so sorry! Are you okay?” The girl, who Tony realized was Rebecca, asked as she crouched down to help Tony up.  
  
Tony simply burst into tears at the question and the look of sorrow in her eyes. He really wasn't okay, not really.  
  
“Dear God, did you get hurt that bad?” She asked, her tone frightened as she searched his smaller body for injuries.  
  
“No, it's not you, I'm not hurt.” Tony managed to awkwardly sob out as he gathered himself up from the ground and stood in front of Rebecca, arms wrapped around himself for comfort.  
  
“Oh God, emotional pain, that might be worse!” Rebecca cried.  
  
She placed her hands on each of his shoulders and walked him slowly to the kitchen. She sat him down and fixed him a mug of hot chocolate and let him cry.  
  
“You gonna tell me what's wrong, sweetheart?” She asked after he had calmed down a little.  
  
“It's just stupid, don't worry about it.” Tony muttered while wiping his tears.  
  
“It's not stupid, if something has upset you, it's never stupid. Telling someone is not a waste of their time, they may be able to help you. You are worthwhile, Tony, you must always remember that.” Rebecca said softly as she smoothed a hand over his cheek.  
  
Tony leaned into the warmth of her hand and sniffled a little before building up enough courage to tell Rebecca what had transpired.  
  
“I shouldn't have been there, I was just being nosey and I guess I got what I deserved.” Tony sighed before continuing his story. “They were all in the common room and I mean I guess I wasn't welcome since they all know each other and I'm just the new foreign kid.”  
  
“We are talking about my brother and his self absorbed little friends, right?” Rebecca asked a little bitterly.  
  
“You said it, not me.”  
  
“Carry on,”   
  
“Well, I overheard them, saying stuff I wasn't meant to hear and it kinda settled my feelings about not belonging here at all and now I guess I'm crying about it like a baby.” Tony solemnly admitted.  
  
“What types of things did they say?” Rebecca asked, her tone irritable.  
  
“I dunno, just things like "I don't belong here", I'm too weak to be on the team", "I'm a coward" that I'm just a "little spoiled rich boy who gets anything I want because daddy throws money at my problems", nothing untrue I guess.” Tony sighed, “Someone did say that my dad is a self entitled ass hole though, I don't think that's true, he worked really hard to get where he is right now.”  
  
The pair sat in silence for a few minutes as Tony awkwardly looked around the room and Rebecca stewed silently over what Tony had just told her.  
  
“Tony, look at me.”  
  
Tony raised his head and shyly looked into Rebecca's stunning steel blue eyes.  
  
“Don't you ever, let anybody make you feel too weak or too insignificant to be on this team, ok? You have been put here for a reason, a reason that not you nor any other of those ignorant little ass hole understand yet. You are powerful in your own right so don't you ever stop believing that. You may have not come into your own yet but believe me when I say that none of those other kids have either. Also, you're a good two or three years younger than all of them so they do not have the right to make you feel so shit about yourself when two or three years ago, some of them hadn't even manifested yet.”

  
“Really? Some of them haven't manifested?”  
  
“I speak the truth. Bucky didn't even show any signs of even a link to any element or one of those objects Joe has on the testing table nevermind manifestation until we were in a car crash and the stress caused him to manifest and ultimately save us from the burning car we were trapped in. Ever since that his powers have been greatly unstable. Clint also can't talk because his ability is probably the weakest so far on the team. He would be a great metal manipulator if he wasn't so lazy.” Rebecca told a shocked Tony.  
  
“I just assumed they were all really good like straight out the womb or something.” Tony muttered.  
  
“No, I mean, Loki doesn't count because she's an actual goddess and Natasha is the one who manifested the earliest at five but early manifestation, especially in a maji can cause problems. That's the reason she's the way she is now.”  
  
“That’s quite sad.”  
  
“A bit.”  
  
The two sat in silence for a few minutes once again as they both quietly sipped their hot chocolate.  
  
“You know, I was just like you. I didn't have very strong abilities and I had no idea to use or control them at all. I cost the team a lot in the early days but when they needed me most, I pushed through. After that, it was pretty much smooth sailing.”  
  
“Was my dad like us?”  
  
“No, that boy was a powerhouse. He manifested very, very early. He manifested early enough that he doesn't remember a time he didn't have his abilities. He wasn't that strong in the beginning, when he first came here but when we started to train, oh my God, he was almost unstoppable. He was the strongest elemental and one of the most rare. I mean, you hardly ever find someone who can control dimensions themselves. Having power like that, thought, is not always a good thing. People were after him twenty four seven and when he was here, we were always on high alert due to the frequent kidnapping attempts. It also takes a toll on your body after a while and your stamina reduces drastically. Even an eternal's power eventually wears the host body out eventually, that's why they have to reincarnate every few generations.”  
  
“I didn't know that.” Tony said softly.  
  
“Well, you learn something new everyday.” She took a sip of her drink. “Anyway, point is, don't let them put you down, Tony, because you are one in seven billion. You are extremely unique and talented and just because you don't know the extent of your power, how to control it or what your main one is, doesn't make you inferior. Keep your head high, little prince, you'll look back on this one day and realise that you had nothing at all to worry about at all.” Rebecca stood up and ran a soft hand over Tony's hair and planted a soft kiss on his forehead that filled him with warmth and comfort.   
  
“I'll have a word with my little idiot of a brother but don't worry, I will be discreet and if his conscience bothers him enough, he'll come and see you later.”   
  
And with those words, Rebecca was gone, leaving Tony alone in the kitchen with his cup of hot chocolate.  
  
...  
  
  
“I beat you fair and square, dude!” Steve crowded as he jogged backwards awkwardly with a shit eating grin plastered on his face.  
  
“I don't call a blue shell fair and square, Steve! You completely fucked me over!”  
  
“Nah, don't be a sour puss, it was just...divine intervention!”  
  
“Oh fuck off! It was you being a dick!”  
  
“It was the will of the Gods!”  
  
Bucky pointed at the floor behind Steve who was still clumsily stumbling backwards and made an ice patch materialize. Steve felt his left foot swiftly slide out from underneath him and with an undignified scream that he would never admit to, he fell to the ground, right on his ass.  
  
“HA! Divine intervention, bitch!” Bucky shouted down at Steve who was trying and failing to get up from the icy puddle.  
  
“Screw you man!”  
  
“I'd rather you didn't, I'm not into blondes!” Bucky chortled as he unlocked his door.  
  
“Don't lie, everyone's into me!”  
  
“Or so you think.”  
  
“You coming down to the common to watch a movie with us later?”  
  
“Suck a dick, Steven!”  
  
“Only if it's yours!” Steve called back.  
  
“Ew, disgusting!” Bucky muttered as he stumbled into his room.  
  
“Yeah, just like a few other things I know about.” Came a feminine voice from straight ahead.  
  
Bucky yelped and jumped at least a foot in the air before he awkwardly gathered his wits.  
  
“Bee! What are you doing in here? How did you get in here,” Rebecca flashed a key. “Of course you have a key. Wait, when did I give you a key?” Bucky cried as he walked into the centre of the room.  
  
“That's beside the point, James. I'm here to talk to you about that dick move you and your shitty little friends pulled on Howard's kid!” Rebecca literally screamed.  
  
Bucky jumped away from his livid sister as she got up and advance on him.  
  
“I overheard you all saying some awful shit about him then I saw him run off crying! I thought you were better than that, James! Mom and Dad would be fucking livid right now!”  
  
“I swear I didn't do nothing, Bee!”  
  
Don't "Bee" me! You're right you didn't do nothing! You did ignore him! You did let your friends say all that untrue shit about him!” Rebecca shouted at her taller younger brother.  
  
“That don't make any sense, Bec!”  
  
“Yes it does you uneducated little prick! You used a double negative so when you said that you didn't do nothing, you mean you did something!” Rebecca threw her hands up in despair, “Fuck! It's like you don't learn anything in class and I know that you have English class in this school!”  
  
“I'm sorry, Bee, you're right, I didn't stick up for him because I didn't want the others to think badly of me. I mean, when you do the slightest thing that they don't agree with, they completely rinse you out and sooner or later, they'd all be bitchin' behind my back too. It's either you're with them or against them with that group. I didn't help him but I swear I didn't say a bad word against that kid.”  
  
Rebecca looked up at him with eyes that matched his own then shook her head sadly.  
  
“Hon, you leaving him to be eaten alive by your so called "friends", is even worse than you not saying anything against him. He won't remember you not speaking against him, he'll only remember you as a part of the collective. Also you're friends are not really your friends of they'd shun you for being a good person. Think about that.”   
  
Rebecca got up, adjusted her green tank top and tossed her waist length deep brown hair over her right shoulder.  
  
“If you're really sorry, you'll go find him and talk to him. You'll say you're sorry and maybe he'll forgive you. That kid's a little darling, a fifteen year old darling and a sweet little boy like him deserves a friend. He's all alone out here, he needs someone. You be his someone, Jamie. Make our parents proud, make me proud.”  
  
Rebecca pecked her little brother on his cheek and left him to reflect on what he'd do next.  
  
  
...  
  
  
Tony realized very quickly that he was an absolute pro at walking into conversations he wasn't supposed hear and as if it couldn't get worse, this time it was his dad and Rebecca.

  
“Those other kids are not the greatest. I don't think he should try and be friends with them if they said that God awful shit about him in the first place.” Howard grumbled.  
  
“He just wants to be like them, Howie, he wants to be like us.” Rebecca sighed.  
  
“Rebecca, he'll never be like us or them! You especially know that!” Howard declared, throwing his hands up irritably, “He's-”  
  
Howard heard a gasp and turned his head swiftly towards the source. When he saw his poor little Tony with tears in his eyes, staring back at him with betrayal in those golden brown orbs, his heart felt as if it had snapped completely in two.  
  
“Tony, baby,” Howard started, getting up from his chair.  
  
“No,” Tony sobbed out and turned away to leave.  
  
Tony's hand went to the door knob and suddenly, he found the door had reversed and his hand was at the side where the hinges were situated rather than the handle. Tony looked back, confused, only to see Howard standing with his left hand outstretched, shaking a little. Tony turned back and tried to open the door from the newly placed handle only to have the door open into a wall.  
  
“Would you stop it? I just want to get away from-” Tony spun angrily to face his father but the fury was sucked out of him when he saw blood dripping from Howard's nose.  
  
“Oh my God, what have I done?” Tony cried.  
  
Howard relaxed and dabbed at his nose to stop the blood from dripping into his mouth with the back of his hand until Rebecca hastily handed him a napkin.  
  
“It's not your fault, kiddo,”  
  
“How is this not my fault?” Tony shrieked, “Se non sono mai venuto qui in primo luogo non avreste avuto i vostri poteri! Ho incasinato le cose proprio come faccio di solito! Mi dispiace tantissimo!”  
  
“Tony! Don't say that, it's not true!” Howard said strongly as he started walking over to his son who was currently emotionally falling apart.  
  
“Mi dispiace tantissimo,” Tony repeated, now in tears.  
  
Tony tugged helplessly on his hair as the lights flicked on and off again, his emotions tampering with his almost non existent control on his unpredictable powers. One of the lights exploded and to stop Tony from freaking out further, Rebecca sent out a wave of calm to settle him so none of the room's occupants would get hurt further.  
  
“Thanks, Bec,” Howard said softly as he reset the door to its original state, ignoring the pulse in his head from using his powers.   
  
“No problem,” She replied as she walked past the father and son, dropping a calming kiss on Tony's forehead before reaching for the door handle. “I'll leave you two to it.”  
  
She opened the door and let herself out, closing the door softly behind her to provide them with some privacy.  
  
“Tony, sit, baby; we need to talk.”   
  
Tony shuffled across the tiled kitchen floor in his warm, plush crocodile slippers and took a seat on the nearest stool. Howard walked towards the bin, threw away his bloody napkin then pulled off a fresh one for his still sluggishly bleeding nose.  
  
“Tony, where do I start,” Howard sighed as he settled down in the stool beside his worried son who wouldn't meet his eyes.  
  
“Okay, firstly, this,” Howard pointed to his nose, “is not your fault. I shouldn't have used my abilities to keep you from leaving the room. It's, in a way, underhanded and i know that it gives me problems so it wasn't the best of ideas. Secondly, i wasn't saying anything bad about you! I was saying that you wouldn't ever be like us or the elite team because you are completely different! You shouldn't even want to be just like us anyway. We're all old and from what I hear, the new elites are a bit up their own asses so far. Anthony, look at me,” Tony lifted his head and stared at Howard with tear filled eyes. “You, my precious little boy, are a cut above the rest and I know you don't believe me, but you are destined for greatness, you always have been. Even if you weren't, I would still love you just as much as i love you right now. I have and always will love you, no matter who or what you are or who you will become. No matter what happens, you will always be my bambino. Just because you currently are unsure about who you are doesn't mean I've lost hope in you, okay?”  
  
Tony took in a shuddering breath and nodded his head, taking in all Howard said and tried to process it. Howard ran a hand over his little boy's soft, curly, brown hair then gently pulled him in for a hug.  
  
“Stay unique, baby boy, no one ever made a difference by trying to fit in.”

  
“Ti voglio bene,” Tony whispered into Howard's green sweater.  
  
“Ti voglio bene,” Howard replied as he nuzzled Tony's head.  
  
“Papà?”   
  
“Yes?”  
  
“My braces are caught on your sweater.”  
  
Howard tossed his head back and laughed.  
  
“Stop laughing at me! This is serious!”  
  
  
...  
  
  
Tony was scrolling through Instagram, missing his friends when a gentle knock brought him back into the here and now.  
  
“It's open!” Tony called, assuming it was just his dad coming to fuss over him again.  
  
To his surprise and horror, the visitor turned out to be the one and only Bucky. One of the kids he was trying to avoid for as long as possible.  
  
“Oh great, what the fuck do you want?” he asked. He knew it was exceedingly rude but he couldn't help but feel better once he got his anger out of the way.  
  
“I deserved that.” Bucky muttered.  
  
“No, I'm sorry, no one deserves foul language and rude behaviour if that's the only thing my dad taught me. I just was feeling petty and I needed to get that off my chest.”  
  
“What? I should be the one who's sorry! I completely aided in your struggles so far. My friends are a spiteful bunch and rather than stick up for you, I just let them talk smack about you. I should have gone after you straight away when you walked in on us in the common but I was too chicken shit to do that in front of the others. They probably woulda ripped the shit into me behind my back too.” Bucky admired solemnly.  
  
Tony blinked a few times in surprise.  
  
“Wow, if your friends are like that, then boy, you really don't need enemies.” Tony commented.  
  
“You have braces! That is so cute.” Bucky blurted awkwardly.  
  
Tony turned deep red.  
  
“What?”  
  
“Shit! Sorry, that was out of line. I just didn't realize you wore braces. I, um, used to have braces too.”   
  
Tony nodded awkwardly.  
  
“The others used to call me brace face. That wasn't fun.”  
  
“As I said, your friends are dicks.” Tony bluntly said.  
  
“They grown on you.”   
  
“Like a fungus maybe.”  
  
“Maybe, anyway, that wasn't the point of my visit. I came here to basically say I'm sorry and I would like to start over.”  
  
Tony stared at the older brunette boy sceptically.  
  
“Your friends though.” Tony started.  
  
“My sister said some things to my that changed my perspective. I mean I will try to get them to see the light and get to know you but if they don't want any of it and become dickish to me, then I'm out.”  
  
Tony shrugged, remaining sceptical but kneeled up on his bed and reached out his right hand.  
  
“I'm Anthony Stark, nice to meet you. My friends call me Tony.”  
  
Bucky paused.  
  
He found himself taking Tony's smaller, softer hand and shaking it gently.  
  
“Hey, Tony, I'm James Barnes but my friend call me Bucky. Nice to meet your acquaintance.”  
  
“Would you like to watch Netflix with me, James? I haven't quite finished watching the last season of American Horror Story.”  
  
“Well I haven't started it at all.”  
  
“It's not Netflix if you don't binge watch it anyway.”  
  
“Agreed, my friend, agreed.”  
  
  
...  
  
  
Very late that night, so late that it might have been morning, Howard Stark and Rebecca Barnes peaked their heads into Tony's bedroom and were shocked at what they found. Howard was sceptical as he did not know the true intentions of the older boy regarding his precious little one but this was better than him crying alone. Rebecca was happy that her brother took her advice and could only hope that he stayed loyal to this poor kid because boy did she know that he would need as much friends as he could get in the very near future.

  
  


 

  
  
_ Translations _

_Se non sono mai venuto qui in primo luogo non avreste avuto i vostri poteri! Ho incasinato le cose proprio come faccio di solito! Mi dispiace tantissimo!_ \- If I never came here in the first place you would not have had to use your powers! I messed things up just like I usually do! I'm so sorry! (Something along those lines)  
  
  
  
_Mi dispiace tantissimo!_ \- I'm so sorry!  
  
  
  
_Ti voglio bene_ \- I love you (rough translation for platonic or familial love I think)

  
_ Papá _ \- Dad/Father

 

 

 

 

**_Chapter 3 Friends that play together, stay together (aka let us show you how it's done) (Incomplete)_ **

Tony woke up the following day strangely comfortable and warmer than usual. With a contented groan, he turned onto his right side and received a face full of hair. Tony's eyes popped open in shock and found that he was laying face to face with James Barnes, something he was not at all expecting. With a yelp, he tried to sit up but was restricted by an arm snugly tucked around his waist.   
  
"James! Wake up!” Tony said as he prodded the older boy violently in the shoulder.   
  
“Wuh?” James mumbled as he opened his misty eyes.   
  
“You fell asleep over mine last night, moron! We have to get to lessons or we're screwed!”   
  
“What time is it?” Bucky asked nonchalantly as he retracted his arm from around Tony's waist and stretched.   
  
“It's fucking 8:45!” Tony cried as he tried to roll over Bucky to get out of his bed.   
  
“Shit!” Bucky jumped up, misjudged the space left on the bed and fell to the ground, taking Tony with him.   
  
Tony fell first as he was dislodged from his awkward position on top in Bucky and he had less than a second to move his limbs to prevent Bucky from falling on them and maybe snapping his leg. Bucky caught his fall by placing both his hands on either side of Tony's head so that the wouldn't make facial contact and probably both end up concussed. And as if Tony's life was not already an awkward, stereotypical teen movie, Bucky fell a little too perfectly between his open legs and now they were staring at each other, wondering what to do next. Tony shifted a little and make a discovery that could only aid in making the situation so uncomfortable that he wished the floor would open up and swallow him whole.   
  
“Um, uh, James? Y-you've, you know, got, uh... A little something going down...” Tony stuttered, his face radiating heat more efficiently than a boiler.   
  
“What?” Bucky asked, completely puzzled.   
  
Tony winced at the morning breath. They failed to mention that in the teen movies.   
  
“I guess it's not really a little something, more of a huge something... It's also kinda more going up, into places I'm not particularly ready for...”   
  
“Can you be clearer, please?”   
  
Tony huffed frustratedly.   
  
“You're having a slight situation, you know, a morning situation.”   
  
“I don't get you, man.” Bucky replied, unmoving from the awkward position still, though it felt as if it had been at least ten minutes.   
  
Tony let out an exasperated growl and pushed up at Bucky's chest.   
  
“You have a boner, Bucky! And it's pretty much up my ass!”   
  
“Fuck!” Bucky rolled off the younger teen and swiftly got to his feet.   
  
“Exactly!” Tony shouted.   
  
“Can I, uh, use your bathroom? Please?”   
  
“Yeah, whatever,” Tony asked, still a touch too flustered. Bucky asking to use his bathroom raised Tony's suspicions what the older boy was about to do. Raised probably wasn't such a good word.   
  
“Uh, can I use your shower, if you don't mind?”   
  
Tony was now convinced his assumptions were correct now. If it were possible, Tony blushed harder.   
  
“Uh, sure.”   
  
“Thanks, man.”   
  
As Bucky awkwardly waddled away, trying to hide his morning situation, Tony wondered why Bucky even tried to hide after Tony had been in such close proximity earlier. He could only guess that this guy had a weird sense of modesty and an inability to feel his own... arousal. Before the older boy could close the bathroom door, Tony threw a towel at his face.   
  
“You might want this? I've had enough contact with your junk for one day.”   
  
“What about night?” Bucky asked with a lavish wink.   
  
Tony felt his face blaze red and his eyes widen.   
  
“JAMES! I swear to God! If you don't stop with your jokes I swear-”   
  
“Yeah, yeah, horrible timing! I'm really sorry! Shutting up now!” Bucky retreated back into the bathroom before Tony could punch him.   
  
“FUCK!” Tony yelled, completely flustered and unsure of how to express himself.   
  
Bucky peeked his head out and raised a finger.   
  
“ARGH!” Tony screamed at him.   
  
“Yikes! Okay! I'm sorry!” Bucky shrieked, slamming the door and locking it for good measure.   
  
Tony let out a loud exasperated sigh and threw his arms up. This would be long ass day.   
  


  
…

  
  
Both Tony and Bucky shuffled awkwardly but swiftly to the training room, both their faces stained red from embarrassment as they felt all the eyes of their fellow team members and Barney follow them to the edge of the circle where they awkwardly stood side by side.   
  
“Alright?” Bucky greeted with a cringe.   
  
“Ciao.” Tony said passive aggressively, crossing his arms over his pumpkin orange sweater and blue overall shorts, daring anyone to even look at him weird.   
  
At Tony's rather surprising and aggressive look, the other teens looked away awkwardly, coughing or maybe clearing their throat. (All apart from Natasha of course, who just stared Tony down, though she was secretly impressed that such a cute boy could make such an intimidating face, however, she'd never tell him that).   
  
“Nice of you guys to join us for today's lesson, not holding anyone up at all.” Barney said sarcastically as he tapped his left foot against the floor impatiently.   
  
“Yeah, um, sorry about that. I like woke up late but so did Tony but I mean like he was on top of me so I couldn't move but that was my fault because I was holding him. We were like sleeping together, just sleeping together because he was upset at us because the bullshit we said in the common yesterday and it was only right to apologize. So we like watched a movie, fell asleep then we woke up and-”   
  
“Don't say it.” Tony hissed, turning sharply to the word vomiting older teen.   
  
“It got mega awks because-”   
  
“Shut the fuck up Barnes!”   
  
“I had a b-!”   
  
Tony doubled his fist and slammed home into Bucky's stomach.   
  
“Asshole!” Tony growled at Bucky who was curled up on the floor, wheezing in pain. “Guess you're not really sorry or you just don't know how to watch your fucking mouth!”    
  
Tony cursed the older boy out a little then stepped over him to stand with the others who were now a little afraid of the tiny brunette boy who had effortlessly floored one of their best and most powerful fighters (all apart from Natasha who was simply impressed but would never admit that to anyone, nevermind Tony).   
  
“Anyway, do carry on, I'm here to learn not to be sucked into some petty drama.” Tony said sagely, crossing his arms in annoyance.    
  
“Good, someone who's actually taking this seriously. Barnes, get your ass off the floor and stop whining like a little bitch.”   
  
Clint laughed but when he was leveled with a life threatening glare by his brother, he shut up and cast his eyes back onto the ground.   
  
“Well, now that that's been sorted, we have a lesson to get back to.” Barney said, voice utterly unimpressed. “Today, you're going to work together to defeat the team of holos. If you don't know what they are, they're holographic renditions of the first elite team who are, as you already know, the team that I was in with your parents and siblings. You must use teamwork and initiative to defeat the holos. If you don't work together, you will lose and lose badly. These holos do not pull punches. Be aware and alert.”   
  
Barney finished his speech and stepped back, allowing the kids to spread out and fill the space. Tony's anger melted away and began to give way to anxiety as the silence progressed, only pierced buy the thump of his heart in his own ears. Tony jumped as the silence was shattered by a loud countdown buzzer. Seven shapes flickered into existence then solidified into almost tangible people. The figure standing in front of Tony shook him to the core due to the fact that the figure was almost a split image of him but a little younger with the biggest brown eyes. The visage of who Tony instantaneously recognised as his father was fearless. It frightened him because the younger version of his father had a stone cold expression on his young face and he had clearly seen death and war on his time. The figure couldn't have been more than thirteen when this was programmed  and no thirteen year old should have such a look on his face. Tony was so caught up on staring at the visage of his father, he completely missed the end of the count down, missed what Barney has said and found himself being launched across the room at top speeds into a padded wall. Natasha was so absorbed into hurling abuse at a tiny hologram girl who was probably ten who seemed to be Rebecca but glowing with wings that she failed to notice an airborne, screaming Tony hurtling towards her and unfortunately became his crashmat. Tony was so gob smacked he forgot he was laying on Natasha which earned him a sharp punch to the middle of his back.   
  
“Get the fuck off me and get your ass back into the fight!” She screamed as she rolled out from underneath him, getting up and running into the throng.    
  
“Do not let the enemy distract you! Group together, you are stronger that way!” Barney shouted from the sidelines.   
  
Tony scrambled to his feet and rushed to the middle with the rest of the group who was seemingly struggling just as much as he was. Steve and Bucky had seemingly teamed up and were successfully covering each others back while keeping the holos at bay. Their plan, however was soon spoiled by younger maybe sixteen year old Joe with a well placed sonic blast that no one knew was possible with the ability of air manipulation. Both boys went flying high with screams to match into the padded wall behind the group. The group of holos began closing in, effortlessly defending again the weak and now practically rendered useless attacks of the amateur group. Everything was an unorganized panicked frenzy of screening teens. Random blasts of fire shot around the room as Steve attempted to hit Howard's holo. He was unsuccessful due to the fact that Howard was seemingly teleporting himself around the dome while still getting closer to the group. Bucky's ice manipulation was not cooperating therefore all he seemed to be doing was accidentally hindering his own team but actually aiming his power at them. The long metal needles that Clint carried around were rendered useless by a maybe nineteen year old Natalie's majic which simply made all his weapons disappear. Natasha was attempting to knock the visage of Rebecca from the air with strange shots of red from her palms bit Rebecca was too quick and still advancing. Loki had essentially given up due to the fact that when she called everyone to her at the very beginning of the exercise, no one listened and she knew there was safety in numbers. So when a younger version of Thor sent her flying through the air, she just let it happen and simply lay down were she fell and waited for this shit show to be over. Tony was basically in a state for panic and just ran away from the two holos that chased him, (Thor and Bruce) since his pretty much non existent abilities completely disappeared and be was practically defenceless.   
  
“Turn and fight, Tony! You cannot outrun them!” Barney shouted from his safe spot on the side lines.   
  
“I can't! I don't know how to fight them!” Tony screamed back as he continued to run, not without tripping over his own feet a few times.   
  
“Tony! The only way you will defeat them is if you face them! Now stop being a pussy and stand up!”   
  
Tony simply screamed and dodged around both Steve and Bucky to avoid a lightning strike that was sent his way by Thor. In his attempts to evasive manoeuvre the attack, he accidentally left the best friends in the line of fire and caused them to get shocked instead of him.   
  
“Tony! What the fuck are you doing?” Barney screamed, finding it harder and harder to stop himself from tearing out his own hair.   
  
“What the hell, dude?” Bucky yelled from the ground with both his arms up in question.   
  
“Fuck! Watch it asshole!” Clint shouted as Tony accidentally barrelled into him.   
  
In his attempts to escape, Tony single-handedly aided in his own teams demise by accidentally redirecting shots, barreling over his own team or leading the enemy straight to them. Oddly, in the end, Tony was the last one standing but things weren't looking up for his team was down for the count and definitely not coming to his aid any time soon. He also had the entire old elite team on his tail but he didn't turn to face them, he kept running away.   
  
“Tony! Turn and face them!” Barney shouted once more.   
  
“I can't fight them!” Tony cried in reply.   
  
“Yes you can! Just turn your goddamned cowardly self around and make a stand!” Barney screamed at the young teen.   
  
“I can't do it!”   
  
“Turn and fight!”   
  
“I can't!”   
  
“Turn and fight!”   
  
“No!”   
  
“TURN AROUND!”   
  
Tony stopped running and turned to face Barney who happened to strategically place himself behind the holos that were chasing Tony. Tony felt a strange energy building up in his chest powered by the fear he was feeling from the chase and the anger he was feeling towards Barney and the other kids and suddenly, everything piled up inside him and all the emotions from the past two days needed to escape.   
  
“I CAN'T DO IT!” Tony screamed at Barney.    
  
When Tony's foot came down on the word "do", he felt fiery rage leave his body. All his pent up rage, fear and anxiety rushed out of him like a great tsunami wave washing over and destroying all in its path. Everyone and everything in the room was violently thrown back. The holograms flickered out of existence, burning away like paper. The lights exploded over head, the generator was torn to shreds and then it was all over. In a blink of an eye.    
  
Tony stood there, panting for breath and not getting any. His chest tightened as he took in the damage he had accidentally caused. He looked at the bodies laying out on the floor and bile rose into his throat.   
  
“I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!” he gasped as he began to cry, sweater sleeves pulled up over his hands to hide his face in.    
  
Tony's heart pounded in his chest as he sank to his knees in the middle of the demolished hall, oblivious to Barney and the other kids getting up, all of them surprisingly unharmed though shaken. Barney slowly got to his feet and was followed by the others as he walked forward to the sobbing Tony but with a flick of the wrist and a scowl, he silently ordered them to stay put.   
  
“Tony? Kiddo, you ok?” Barney asked softly, his left arm outstretched.   
  
Ask Barney's fingers touched Tony's exposed wrist, a small arch of lightning connected them and mildly shocked Barney.   
  
“Don't touch me!” Tony cried when he saw the lightning.   
  
“Hey, it's okay! You didn't hurt me, I'm okay, you're okay,” Barney soothed, arms spread in a placidating manner.   
  
“It's not okay! Look what I've done! Everything is a mess.” Tony looked up, his eyes were almost glowing, just like the stone in the rose gold ball shaped cage they had seen the previous day on Joe's testing table. “Your finger, it's burnt.”    
  
Barney looked down at Tony's whisper and realized that his finger was indeed burnt, probably by the lightning Tony had accidentally shocked him with.   
  
“I'm okay, it's just a little burn, I'm just fine,”   
  
“You lied! I did hurt you, just like how I hurt everyone else!” Tony began to cry again, and the lights flickered back on and the light swelled to an unnatural luminance.   
  
“Bucky, go get your sister and Tony's dad, now!”   
  
Bucky nodded and turned to run out of the dented door. The door wouldn't open due to it's absolutely wrecked state so Bucky had to freeze the lock that smash the door open. He looked back quickly then took off down the corridor, like a bat out of hell.   
  
“What's happening to me?” Tony asked, his face dripping wet with tears.   
  


  
...   
  


  
Bucky sprinted down the corridor that lead to the lounge area were most of the adults in the mansion hung out when they weren't teaching or doing anything else. Most of the kids weren't allowed in there but right now, Bucky disregarded the unspoken rule and barrelled into the room and stumbled to a halt, panting and bent over.   
  
“James? What on earth are you doing in here, young man?” His English teacher asked.   
  
“Howard! Beck! I need you right now! Something's happened in the training dome.” Bucky gasped out, ignoring the teacher's question.   
  
Rebecca and Howard looked at each other and instantly, the worst case scenario came to mind. They both got up, ran to Bucky and dragged him out of the lounge, back to the training dome.   
  


  
…

  
  
“What happened?” Rebecca asked as she ran with her little brother in tow. “Was it you? Did the charm stop working?”   
  
“Was it Natasha again? God knows I can't deal with Natasha again!”   
  
“No! No, it's Tony!” Bucky gasped out.   
  
Bother Rebecca and Howard came to a sudden stop, causing Bucky to comply lose his footing.   
  
“Oh shit!” Howard hissed under his breath.   
  
“Already?” Rebecca asked, her question seemed to have a significant meaning to Howard since he shook his head.   
  
They both took off down the corridor once again, leaving Bucky in their dust.   
  
“God! How do they move so fast?” Bucky gasped out, on the edge of collapse as he tried to gather himself and run on his own back to the dome.   
  


  
…

  
  
“Tony! Are you okay? What happened-” Howard stopped suddenly as he ran into the dome and took in all the destruction that had taken place and his little boy crying in the middle of it with an anxious Barney hovering over him  “Oh gods,” he muttered as he began to walk forward again, Rebecca close behind, emitting soothing waves of calm and peace to calm the crying boy down.   
  
“Tony, my love, can you tell me what happened? It will be alright, you're not in trouble, I promise you.”   
  
Tony took in a stuttering breath and raised his head. His tear filled eyes broke Howard's heart and he could do absolutely nothing but rush to his baby and gather him up in his arms. Tony buried his face into Howard's nicely pressed shirt and cried his little heart out, finally feeling safe in his father's arms. Howard paid no mind to the sweaty fisted hands grabbing the back of his shirt or the consistent river of mucus flowing out of his son's nose and onto the shoulder of his clean shirt. If being a shoulder to cry on to his boy mean simultaneously being a handkerchief, he was game as long as it mean his boy would feel better.   
  
“I hurt them all, dad! I got angry and I hurt all of them! I don't even know how it happened, I felt all this energy pile up when I got angry and I took my temper out on Barney and then I destroyed everything! I could have killed them, dad!” Tony shrieked, completely oblivious to Loki fixing everything with her cool, green magic.   
  
Howard subtly nodded his thanks at the dark haired girl and she nodded back before quietly continuing the task at hand.   
  
“My love, this happens to almost every single mutant when the first manifest or when they lose control on their emotions. It's not a big deal and you haven't hurt anyone. I'm sure they don't hold you responsible for what's happened here. You're okay, so is everyone else. Just breathe with me, you'll be just fine.”   
  
“But what if-”   
  
“We don't live in 'what ifs', Tony, we take each day as it comes, we don't reflect on the past, we learn from it and move on. You must never worry about something the could have happened, you worry about what could be and how you learn from your mistakes in order for it to never happen. You will learn in time but until then, don't beat yourself up about it. Now come with me and we'll get a nice chamomile tea to calm you down, you can't feel good after that.” Tony shook his head in agreement, he really did feel like trash after that crying session.   
  
“Come now, let's get some tea.”   
  
Howard stood up with Tony in tow and lead his sniveling son out of the dome.   
  
“Thanks guys for your help, Becky, could you come with, if you don't mind? I think we could do with some more of your calming aura.”   
  
“Yeah, sure.”   
  
“Hope you're feeling better soon, kiddo. If it makes you feel better, no one has ever defeated the simulation single handedly, so you got that on your side!” Barney said with a soft hand on Tony's shoulder.   
  
Tony huffed out a tired laugh at that, more so to just be polite.   
  
“See you later, Tony.” Bucky said with a little wave as the father and son almost crossed the threshold.   
  
With a wave in return, the father and son were finally gone, leaving a room of mostly gobsmacked teens, a flustered teacher and an indifferent demigod Princes but what was new about that?   
  


  
…

  
  
“Ugh, did you see him crying like a little baby after his breakdown in the combat dome? What a little pussy!” Clint laughed, throwing a peanut into the air and catching it in his mouth.   
  
Loki rolled her eyes and got up off her seat when those judgmental words left Clint's mouth.   
  
“I'm out, I can't be arsed to listen to your immature bullshit today, no sis.” And with a flick of her waist length black hair, she vanished.   
  
“Hey, I think that's the most words I've ever heard her speak!” Natasha laughed nastily.   
  
“That is so unfair! You don't know what he was feeling at the time, it must have been frightening.” Bucky replied to Clint's statement in Tony's defence, ignoring Loki's disappearance and Natasha's snide remark.   
  
“It doesn't matter what he was feeling, it's never professional to lose your cool like that and put your entire team in danger. He clearly has no control and he doesn't deserve a place here.” Natasha said dismissively.   
  
“So I don't deserve to be here either? If you have forgotten, I have basically no control on my abilities either, I get mad and they get all out of whack, I get sad and a blizzard starts! The only reason that it seems like I have control is because I'm wearing a charm my sister made for me that literally decreases my power. I'm telling you now, if I wasn't wearing it, this entire place would have been iced over ages ago and everyone would probably be dead! You don't know what it's like to have your powers manifest out of the blue, it's terrifying and you feel like you have no control and that no one's safe around you. Honestly, you guys can be so fucking mean sometimes.”   
  
The silence was thick and awkward and swimming with regret.   
  
“Buck-”   
  
“Nah, I'm gonna go outside, I need some air.”   
  
And with those words, Bucky left the room, leaving his friends guilt ridden and regretful. Natasha rose from her seat, right arm outstretched only to have it pulled back down by Steve's warm hand.   
  
“Let him go.”   
  
And Natasha left him.   
  


  
...   
  


  
“So, you might be wondering why I called you all here.” Barney said as he ceased his pacing around the meeting room.   
  
“Because the Elite Team is something less than desirable?” Thor guessed with his hand politely raised.   
  
“Because our offspring and siblings have no fucking clue what they are doing?” “Natalie muttered, running a hand through her hair.   
  
“Because the Elite Team suck?” Joe asked loudly.   
  
“Yes! Because the elite team is trash! It's like you read my mind! The A team is actually so much better than them at this point, I'm tempted to make an appeal to switch the teams around and make the A team the elites! They all suck and they think they are god's gift! And I'm gonna just say it now, Loki and Tony are not in the mix and Bucky, to be fair to him, is slowly making his way out of the mix but none of them work well together either! Loki tries to call the team together but gives up about seven seconds in. She stays down when knocked down since she believes that there is no point in fighting if you're fighting alone as she so eloquently put it. Tony has no control over his power, to be honest, I'm not even sure what his power is. He has literally no self believe that's why his power release is so sporadic and inconsistent. Bucky, Bucky has some serious potential but he's also afraid of himself. He is also too affected by what others think and we need to improve on that. And don't even get me started on the other three, no offense but guys, those three kids are a walking disaster. They range from over powered to barely powered due to laziness which the latter may be my own fault. Point is, guys, we need a plan. We need a way for them to improve and not only improve individually but as a team as I'm almost certain they don't even know what the word means.” Barney let out a world weary sigh and slumped into his chair. “Problem is, I don't know how.”   
  
The group sat in silence mulling over Barney's words, trying to find a solution to their joint problem.   
  
“Ah! A show and tell!” Rebecca cried as she sat bolt upright, her face almost aglow with excitement.   
  
“What is this 'show and a tell" you speak of?” Thor asked, utterly confused.   
  
“It's when you bring something to the class and tell them what it does. In this case, we bring a preformed team, show the kids what a team working together looks like, then we tell them how we work so well together.” Joe explained.   
  
“So if we want our kids to work as a team, we show them a team.” Howard concluded.   
  
“Exactly!” Barney replied, “Bec, you are a genius.”   
  
“I was always the brain of this outfit!” Rebecca laughed with a toss of her long brown hair.   
  
“That your were, sis,” Natalie said with a wink thrown at Howard.    
  
“So we gonna go rehearse for the best show of our lives or what?” Joe asked as he stood up from the table.   
  
“Thought you'd never ask,” Howard replied with a crack of his knuckles.   
  


  
…   
  


  
The original Elite Team stood in a row in the middle of the room, all of them silently buzzing with excitement with the second generation elite time before them, shuffling with anticipation and a touch of anxiety.

 

“So, you’re probably all wondering why you're here right now.” Howard started, his voice answer by various nods.

 

“Well, we have seen how you all perform as a “team” and we've all decided that you need an example of how to actually fight together rather than against each other.” Joe added.

 

“So, you are all here to watch an actual team go forth in battle as one unit.” Thor boome as he rose his hammer high.

 

“In other words, let's  show you how it's really done.” Natalie finished with a crack of her knuckles.   
  



	3. Leave a Light on

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The surroundings would have caused his breath to stop in his throat if he was actually breathing but he discovered he really wasn't. He would freak out about that after he finished freaking out about why he was back in a strange version of his childhood home. The sky all around him was a deep purple mixed with dark blue and black, creating a strange galaxy tone in the sky. The horizon, however had a golden glow that seemed to highlight the border between heaven and earth.

**_Chapter 1_ **

The rain poured continuously from saturated grey clouds in the sky, casting an endless deluge of misery upon the unsuspecting city of New York. Tony Stark gazed out of the window, a look of despondency written upon his face as he considered the diabolical weather and wished he was anywhere but here in this ridiculously hot car in front of this infernal building. He'd rather be with his young baby and his other half who was sitting beside him with the very same expression underlying his mask of endless optimism and hope.    
  
“Hey, it'll be fun,” Steve said softly, reaching for Tony's silk gloved hand.   
  
“You say that every single time and ever time it's the same story. Both of us sitting under the hors d'oeuvres table, bitching about how much we really don't want to be at the fundraiser and how much we hate all the snooty people trying to grab your ass. This year, we'll probably be in a closet crying about how much we miss Tommy and end up leaving a full five hours before the end.” Tony huffed out in a monotone voice.   
  
Steve widened his eyes, puffed out his cheeks, and let out a whistle as he turned away from Tony and went back to staring out of the windshield, this time, his face a picture of shock.   
  
“Uh, well, I don't really have anything to say in response to that highly optimistic sentence but all I know is that if we bail now, Fury will attack us and we'll never hear the end of it for a few months, maybe even a year, who knows? That man can hold an impressive grudge, it's his speciality.” Steve replied, straightening his tie and gathering his wits in preparation to leave the car and face the sharks they called paparazzi.   
  
“Steven, I thought you were one to never back away from a fight.” Tony mused as he turned his face towards the other man.   
  
“Tony, honey, that isn't what you call a fight, that's suicide. Something I would rather not do right now.” Steve chuckled.   
  
“Whatever you say, darling, just know that I refuse to be held responsible for the state you will be in later tonight.” Tony said with an elegant flick of his wrist.   
  
“Alright, alright, I'll keep that in mind,” Steve laughed, both his hands raised in a pacifying manner, “for now, however, we need to get out of this blasted car so we can get into the gala. I mean, the sooner we get into the building, the sooner we can leave.”   
  
“Not in this case, the longer we spent in the car, the shorter we'll have to spend at the gala as it's on for seven hours. But, I'll go in and face the wolves just because it means so much to you and I love you lots. Consider this an early birthday gift.” Tony said as he sat up properly and smoothed down the lapels of his coat.   
  
“Hey now, let's not be rash, I think I deserve a gift.” Steve chuckled as he reached for the car door handle.   
  
“Now now, I did say an early birthday gift, not your one and only.”   
  
“I'll bear that in mind, my dear.” Steve replied as he finally opened the door and stepped out the into the real world of almost blinding flashing lights and voices shouting over each other, demanding from their victims.   
  
Steve walked around the car and opened Tony's door, extending his right arm towards his mate with a tender smile.   
  
“May I?” He asked with a little wink.   
  
“Sure, Casanova.” Tony replied with a smirk.   
  
Tony took Steve's hand and stepped out of the car very carefully as a fall in front of the hundreds of cameras. The pair walked over to a small corded off section of the carpet that allowed the paparazzi to take the pictures of the famous people that turned up to these obnoxious, overly glamorous events. Tony barely had the effort to put on his flashy Media Smile™ so he settled for a smolder instead, engaging the cameras with his eyes rather than a smile. He showed off his beautiful outfit, one of the only things he was happy about at that particular moment. He was dressed in a pastel pink pair of slacks cut just above his ankles, displaying his white ankle boots with a gently pointed toe. The sole was oak brown with a two inch heel finished off with a golden strip separating the white from the brown sole. He wore white crystal and ruby studded braces, used as more of a decoration that actually holding up his very well fitted slacks that displayed his very well sculpted rear end. His shirt was white and pressed within an inch of its life but rather uninteresting so it was covered by a large ruby necklace bought by Steve as a rather extra anniversary gift a few months prior. Lastly, his outfit was topped off by a knee length pastel pink coat, topped with extravagant and silky light brown faux fur that caressed his neck every time he turned his his head. His hair was styled into a perfectly messy collection of curls that shone to Jesus Christ himself. His hair was really a thing to covet. Tony ran a small, white silk gloved hand down Steve's right bicep, savoring the smoothness of the silk brushing over the royal blue suede jacket his mate wore. Steve's jacket was a thing to be envied over, the soft suede contrasting with the white, gold bordered lapels and starch white shirt beneath it. He wore the same colour blue trousers with slightly darker blue leaf embroidery up the outer legs. He wore simple, suede, black loafers to finish off his outfit.    
  
The couple posed for the cameras for less than two minutes then turned to enter the building. They were instantly separate by rather persistent individuals, demanding answers for their questions and requests for them to meet other overly entitled groups of individuals who sipped champagne and pretended to be interested in whatever they'd say. Steve and Tony laughed, nodded and shook their heads politely in the right places and acted as if they were having a great time rather than wishing they were anywhere but here, perusing and mingling with self centered ass holes. They only saw each other again after countless speeches and half hearted interactions with people they hadn't seen in not enough years during the dancing. After being spun and dipped by one too many self entitled, old and rather creepy alphas who always had their faces way too close to his neck, Tony was finally spun into the strong arms of his mate and he let out the biggest sigh of relief.   
  
“My God, I wondering if you'd died or had been whisked away by Bettie Crocksford, I swear, if she felt your ass or bicep one more time, I would have come over and knocked her into the afterlife.” Tony huffed as he rested his head on Steve's left pectoral.   
  
Steve let of a rather loud snort that drew appalled gazes but he couldn't bring himself to really care.    
  
“My love, you can't just go around beating up old ladies, she was mostly harmless!” Steve laughed as he tilted his head down to look at his scowling omega.   
  
“She was not harmless, Steve. I saw her eyeing your dick one too many times, she was about to cop a feel, I swear. Creepy old bat.” Tony muttered as he rubbed his cheek over the blue suede of Steve's blazer.   
  
Steve let out a deep laugh that vibrated his huge chest, sending a warm feeling through Tony's body.   
  
“Alright, alright, I have to agree, I saw her looking at my dick through my pants and I was thinking I'd have to break a few fingers if she put her prune hands near it.”   
  
Tony pressed his face into Steve's chest and let out a loud belly laugh. “If you make me laugh like that you know I'll probably piss myself. You know my bladder has been fucked since Tommy was born. You really don't want to see a grown ass man piss himself in the middle of the dance floor.”   
  
“How about we hide under the hors d'oeuvres table again so I can see you smile?”   
  
Tony let out a giggle and lifted his face to Steve and locked eyes with him.   
  
“Now that's the best idea you've had all night.” He laughed as Steve took his hand and dragged him in the direction of the hors d'oeuvres tables against the far right wall.   
  
Steve looked around to make sure no one was watching then gently pushed Tony to his knees, prompting him to get under the conveniently floor length white table cloth.   
  
“Oh shit! I beg you pardon.” Tony gasped out as he hastily retreated from under the table. “That one's occupied.” Tony said with a straight face and Steve literally almost shat (a genuine past participle of shit) himself trying to hold back his laughter.   
  
Tony shook his head fondly as he witnessed Steve's face turn and impressive shade of red coupled with a bulging vein on his forehead. Tony turned back around and found an unoccupied table and slid under. Once Tony had completely disappeared beneath the table, Steve looked around again, grabbed an hors d'oeuvres platter and followed his love under the table, still trying his hardest not to laugh as he went. The couple laughed as soon as the made eye contact, leaning on each other to catch breath as they both reflected on what just happened. They snacked on platter after platter of hors d'oeuvres (Steve had to awkwardly reach up and take them, even made awkward eye contact with a man who was about to take one off the platter Steve was trying to obtain) and they even facetimed their seven month old baby who was being looked after by Bucky who was actually surprising good with babies. They would have asked Clint to look after Tommy but he still, after five years, still had a problem with Tony and refused to move back into the new Avengers Compound which Tony was secretly happy about.    
  
The night was drawing to a close and the couple reluctantly got out from under the table, bellies full and clothes rather crumpled due to the position they were sitting in. They were about to leave, back into the brewing storm when Tony was suddenly struck with a horrible feeling of anxiety and fear. Something bad was about to happen. Something terrible. Steve held his hand and kept walking towards the main exit door, dismissing people who wished to stop and talk with the excuse that they needed to go home as they were late and the babysitter needed to leave. Tony stopped suddenly as they were about to leave the double doors that separated them from the outdoors, causing Steve to stumble and people who were a step behind to walk into Tony.   
  
“What the hell, man?” An arbitrary voice questioned as the person walked around a now panic stricken Tony who was grasping Steve's hand too tightly.   
  
“Tony? Why did you stop? What's wrong? Is it your heart? Are you ok?” Steve asked, concerned for Tony's health.   
  
“No, Steve, It's not my heart. I just... We can't go out there, I have a really bad feeling about something, it's not safe!” Tony rambled as he fisted his hands in Steve's blazer.   
  
“Babe, we were literally just outside like a few hours ago, nothing is wrong.”   
  
“No! You don't understand! I feel it, Steve! Something is really fucking wrong and we can't go, not yet!” Tony shouted, feeling a little more hysterical as the seconds passed.   
  
“Tony, is this a PTSD thing? Is it the rain? I'll put my jacket over you if that's what's wrong.” Steve said as he tried to pull Tony out of the doors.   
  
“NO STEVE! Would you just listen to me, for once in your life, just listen to me! It's not a PTSD thing, I'm not panicking, I just know something really bad is waiting for us outside and I'm trying to stop it from happening!” Tony shouted louder, hitting Steve's chest, trying to drive his point home.   
  
“Tony, you're making a scene now, we need to go home, Bucky is probably tired of looking after Tommy by now and Tommy definitely misses us,” Steve tugged Tony towards the exit once again, this time, applying a little of his super strength to pull Tony outside as he was previously rooted to the spot.   
  
“Steve, stop it! Stop trying to downplay this, something's wrong, I can feel it!” Tony hissed and he struggled against Steve's iron grip.   
  
“Tony, this is not funny anymore! Stop acting like this! You're making us look bad in front of all these people!” Steve said with his disapproving stare as he finally managed to pull Tony towards the doors and stepped out, his back turned to the outside world.   
  
“Steve! I'm serious, I-”    
  
Tony looked down and around Steve's left shoulder and at the bottom of the steps leading up to the hotel the gala was being held at, he saw a man rushing forward, his right hand under his jacket, possibly reaching for something. The world slowed down as the hand withdrew, holding a black handgun and he pointed it towards Steve's turned back. Tony knew there was only one thing to do and used both hands and all his strength to push Steve out of the way and put himself between the bullet and the love of his life. Tony turned to face Steve once again when he felt white hot pain blossom on the right side of his chest followed by two more points of pain; one just under the original spot and the next just to the right, right in the centre of his chest. He watched as Steve's face went from annoyed, to shocked to panic stricken as screams started to echo around him. He felt himself falling backwards but strong arms caught him and lowered him to the floor as he was set upon warm, muscular thighs, a vast contrast to everything that was beginning to feel cold all of a sudden. Tony gazed up into the tearful eyes of his lover and realized that this was the end. There was no going back from this. This was the end of the road and he didn't realize it would hurt so much, not only physically but mentally also. He really wasn't ready to go. What about Tommy? He needed to say goodbye. He needed to see his baby one last time. There wasn't enough time.   
  
There was blood on Steve's chest, he realised, and blood on his own. At least one of the bullets probably followed through and hit Steve anyway but it probably wasn't that bad as it had previously gone through Tony and slowed down.    
  
The world sped up again when Tony finally registered Steve calling his name, pleading for him to focus on him.   
  
“Steve,” Tony whispered as he raised his shaking left hand to touch Steve's tearstained face.   
  
“Tony, I'm so sorry, I'm sorry, this was all my fault, if I just listened...”   
  
Tony coughed, blood bubbled past his lips and down his cheeks.   
  
“Don't blame yourself, my love, you couldn't have known.” Tony coughed out as he gripped Steve's beautiful, now bloodstained, jacket.   
  
“I should have listened,” Steve lamented, stroking the pale face of his mate.   
  
“Tell Tommy that I love him, ok? Tell him I love him every single day.”   
  
“You can tell him yourself, when we get back home.”    
  
“I'm not coming home, Steve. We both know I'm going to die.”   
  
“Don't say that! Don't say anything, save your strength.”   
  
“I love you, Steve. I wish we had more time.” Tony sighed as more blood trickled out of his mouth.   
  
“I love you too.”   
  
“It hurts.”   
  
“I know, I'm sorry,”   
  
“Look at the rain, Steve, It's beautiful.” Tony whispered as he weakly reached up a hand to feel the water touch his fingers.   
  
Steve looked up at the sky to watch the rain fall then looked back down at Tony. His eyes were closed and his left hand dangled down into a puddle on the next step down. Steve placed two shaking fingers into Tony's neck to check for a pulse.    
  
He felt nothing.   
  
Tony Stark was dead.   
  
Steve screamed.   
  


  
....   
  


  
Hospitals were awful places in Steve's opinion. You only ended up there if you were sick, dead or visiting someone who was sick or saying goodbye to someone who was dead.    
  
Tony should have been sitting in this seat, Steve vaguely thought. He should have been sitting is his inconceivably beautiful outfit while Steve was laying on a hospital bed wearing his beautiful, bloodstained blazer while doctors tried in vain to resurrect him. Steve should be the one bleeding out all over the hospital floor. Tony should be the one sitting in the uncomfortable hospital chair, staring at the floor. Yes, Tony would be feeling this awful feeling of sorrow and despair and a broken bond, a pain you only felt when a bond mate died but at least he'd be alive. At least Tommy would have had his bearer.    
  
Steve barely registered the sound of his friends running down the hall. He barely heard the cries of Rhodey, he never heard the sobbing of Wanda, he never heard the mighty cry of anger from Thor. He didn't feel the soft arms of Bucky circle him or his tears soak into the fabric of his bloodstained shirt.    
  
All Steve heard was ringing.   
  


  
...   
  


  
It had been two days since Steve's assassination attempt and two days since Tony had died savings his life. Steve had not removed himself from him and Tony's room and Bucky had to basically take the care of Tommy into his own hands. The little baby didn't nothing but cry since Steve handed him to Bucky the night they had all returned from the hospital Tony was proclaimed dead at. There was simply nothing he could do to soothe the distressed child. He must have been missing his bearer.   
“I guess even you can tell when a star has fallen, my love.” Bucky whispered as he rocked the wailing baby in his arms.   
  
As the baby choked on his tears, Bucky racked his brain for something to sooth the distressed child for if he kept this up, he'd surely suffocate.   
  
“If only you could hear him again...” Bucky mused quietly.   
  
Suddenly, an idea rang through his head. Settling the baby on his hip, he went to grab his phone and activate it, opening videos and scrolling through them until he found a video that he hadn't watched in a good few months due to how much it still hurt to see himself back then. Bucky sighed but pressed play, for the needs of this grieving child mattered more than his own in his opinion.   
  
“Hello! It's me, Tony Stark and I've got some to show you!” Tony chimed happily as he moved the camera around to face recorded Bucky.   
  
“Bucky has a bump!” Tony cheered as recorded Bucky lifted his shirt and showed off a slightly swollen stomach.   
  
Bucky's heart clenched bit the video was doing its job of calming the baby with the voice of his dead bearer.    
  
“We're quite the pair, you and I. I lost my baby and you lost your bearer.” Bucky muttered as baby Tommy's cries soften to whimpers.   
“Bucky bear's all grown up! I'm so proud, he's even starting his own family! Our kids are gonna be best friends, they'll have play dates and...”   
  
Bucky let the soft drone of Tony's voice continue on as Tommy fell asleep. When he was certain the baby had fallen asleep, he let his own tears fall, in memory of both his young baby that he never got to meet and his best friend, the man who brought everyone together again and even became his new best friend.   
  
“We'll be alright, my love, we'll be alright.” He whispered through his sobs, laying the now fitfully sleeping Tommy down in his cot.

  
  
  
  


**_Chapter 2 (Incomplete)_ **

Tony woke up feeling strangely light but rather empty in his chest. A very familiar earthy fragrance filled his nostrils as the gentle breeze washed over his prone form. The earth beneath him was cool and very slightly damp against his skin but he could feel that infernal prickling only caused by the high grass that grew just off the beach around his childhood Italian home. He opened both his eyes and found that he was laying on his side in tall, coarse grass that brought him right back to his childhood. A familiar bird cry caused him to suddenly sit up as it was definitely a sound from his childhood and now he was just confused. He hadn't been back to Italy in over a decade. The surroundings would have caused his breath to stop in his throat if he was actually breathing but he discovered he really wasn't. He would freak out about that after he finished freaking out about why he was back in a strange version of his childhood home. The sky all around him was a deep purple mixed with dark blue and black, creating a strange galaxy tone in the sky. The horizon, however had a golden glow that seemed to highlight the border between heaven and earth. To his right was the ocean that seemed to continue on forever, the water reflecting back the beauty the sky exhibited. Ahead of him slightly to his left was the house his mother lived in as a child and the house he in turn grew up in until he was twelve and moved to America to pursue his father's dream of him becoming a weapons manufacturer. The only difference with the house was that it was on four pillars that kept it above land level.    
  
Tony got to his feet and looked down at himself, realising that he was wearing what looked like an unbound, cream coloured toga, the fabric it was made out of airy and light. His bare feet were caressed by the long blades of brown grass, just as they were when he was a child, his eyes full of wonder, heart filled with joy and soul determined to discover and explore the beauty around him. His hair that he didn't remember being snow white or growing out to shoulder length whipped around in the wind, fluttering into his slightly parted lips and obscured his vision. He walked slowly and steadily towards the house in the distance, the wonder and curiosity that once burned centrefold in his soul rekindling. He walked until he got to the steps that led to the old, warn and blue wooden front door. He blinked slowly once then put his left foot up into the first wooden step then his right followed. He climbed seven steps before he was at the front door. He raised a hand and opened the front door. As the door opened, a sudden burst of colour flooded out and filled Tony's vision with colour. The world was torn apart and put back together and turned inside out and nothing made sense but it did at the same time. Tony was filled with a feeling of sudden wonder, happiness, fear and everything in-between. He felt safe. So safe for the first time. He felt invincible and filled with unbelievable power. It was like he was transported to another realm of reality. A realm of magic where anything was possible. He was all powerful, omnipresent, he was unstoppable. He was flying now. Two wings, large and feathered sprouted from his back, white-iridescent in colour they were, shifting from refracted blue to green to pink to every other colour in the spectrum. Colours Tony had never even seen before. It was beautiful. Tony closed his eyes slowly, the feelings overwhelming him for a moment. He opened his eyes again and then he was under water. He was under crystal clear water, floating a little below the water surface. He swam up and when his head breached the surface, he took in his first, deep breath. He tread the water and used his right hand to brush the hair and water from his eyes. His eyes swiveled around and he found himself in the middle of a pool that was situated in the middle of a huge clearing in what looked like the woods. Sat on the white marble edge of the pool was a middle aged man dressed in a white robe. He was looking down into the pool, directly at Tony with a slight smile upon his lips.   
  
“Hello, fledgling. Welcome to your new home.” The man said in soft, deep and rich angelic tones.   
  
Tony stared at the man unblinkingly.   
  
“Sorry, you must be awfully confused. Come, walk with me.   
  
Tony swam over to the man and pushed himself up and out of the pool. He sat on the edge and spun around to place both his feet onto the ground. He realised he was still in the same outfit from the dream but the wings did not make an appearance.   
  
“I had wings.” Tony stated as he stood up and walked with the man out if the clearing in the woods where the pool was located.   
  
“Ah, that was from the transportation. You will have them once again, when you have earned them.” The man explained as he flicked his own large and powerful brown wings.   
  
“What's the transportation?” Tony asked as he looked around more, not taking in anything new. It was only trees, more trees and a long curved, white dusty path ahead of them. The sky was blue with large fluffy clouds above them.   
  
“It's how you get here. It's better if I start from the beginning. Do you remember anything before the transportation?” The man asked.   
  
“Um...” Tony thought hard but feel up empty. “No, nothing.”   
  
“That's not unusual. I'll just get right to it, you died, Tony.

 

“Oh. Well that's unfortunate.”

  
  
  


 

 

**_Segment for later on in the story (How Bucky Got his Wings) (Incomplete)_ **

The last person Bucky ever expected to see again was Tony Stark.   
  
Firstly because Tony Stark was dead, secondly, if they were both dead they really shouldn't have been in the same place if the traditional places existed. Tony, he would be in heaven according to Bucky's observations and Bucky, after all the people he'd killed in cold blood, should be in the innermost circle of hell. However, here he was, sitting at a desk in the most pure and clean looking room he'd ever seen in his entire life, face to face with a fucking angel, a real, living, breathing angel who had wings so large they could barely fit neatly behind the flawless being. Sat beside the heavenly being was none other that Tony fucking Stark, sitting there with his own pair of not nearly as large but more gorgeous wings what looked white at first glance but it turned out that when he moved them, the feathers were iridescent and refracted the light in a breathtaking spectrum of colour, so detailed and beautiful and nothing he'd ever seen before in his overly long time on earth. Anyway, that was irrelevant. The point was, him and Tony Stark were in heaven together unless it was the outermost circle of hell that he'd read about once that imitates heaven and causes its victims to believe that they did well in life but it just turns out it was a blanket of deception and lies. Being in heaven and having Bucky's track record seemed impossible. True, he'd been on the straight and narrow for the past sixteen (give or take a few) years, trying to save the world one day after the other, helping Steve raise his kid after Tony's untimely passing and plenty of other things that Bucky never counted due to the fact he viewed himself as a bad person. Due to all of these factors, Bucky finally decided that he was being tortured once again for all the bad things he'd done in the past and sunk back in his chair with a solemn look on his face, ready to face the next eternity paying for what he'd done. He still hadn't figured out why Tony was there though. He must just be an illusion, Bucky thought.   
  
“James,”   
  
Maybe hell wouldn't be so bad?   
  
“James!”    
  
Who was he kidding, he was going to burn for eternity in the lake of fire for all his sins.   
  
“James!”   
  
Maybe if he repented enough they would lay off?   
  
"Bucky!”   
  
“Huh?” Bucky looked back up in shock, jolted from his trance.    
  
Tony was staring at him, face portraying slight annoyance but more concern.   
  
“James, I know how you must be feeling right now. I can tell that you don't believe that you should he here with us but I'm going to let Anthony fill in some blanks. I thought that bringing in someone you knew from your life before would aid in the initiation process.” The angel gestured at Tony and moved his head in the direction of Bucky, signifying that he wanted Tony to start speaking before Bucky retracted back into his own head.   
  
“Right, so you are currently in Valhalla. I know, weird right? Anyway, You probably thought this was heaven but not technically. Heaven isn't really a place it's just what humans from the old world referred to as Valhalla. You're probably wondering how you got here so let me just start by telling you that you're body died which you probably already guessed. When you die, you either go to Valhalla or Helheim depending on how you lived your life. I know you are currently thinking of the winter soldier years but it wouldn't be fair for you to go to Helheim for other people's wrongdoings.” Tony explained.   
  
Bucky couldn't help but notice how melodies and beautiful his voice now sounded for some reason. Tony also looked a lot different that Bucky had remembered. His hair was white now for starters. Shoulder length, beautiful, thick, white hair pulled back by a very intricate silver hair clasp.   
  
“Bucky, are you even listening?”   
  
“Sorry, I kinda zoned out.”

  
  



	4. Freedom Front

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What if the Avengers were actually a group of teens back in WWII who fought alongside the Allies, taking out transportation, weapons and other major tools for the enemy? What if they had a story that was never told? What if they were the untold heroes of the next generation?
> 
> This is simply a very short snipit of their brave story.

Tony stood at the curve in the train track. Snow curled around him, a beautiful vision of white and wonder but deathly cold, piling up to his thighs, soaking through the course material of his trousers. He remembered back in the good old days when they all used to go out dancing, not restricted by the rules of the adults, not ridiculed or punished for simply being you were born to be, only swishing skirts made from the softest silk and the finest cotton and the richness of the trousers, shirts and blazers that were worn with style, corrupted by sweat and spilled drinks but it never mattered because it was all purified by the freedom and happiness that washed over them. Tony smiled sadly, how he missed those days, now he was standing in an itchy, poor excuse for an outfit that barely kept him insulated, blowing into his hands, desperately trying to keep frostbite at bay.

  
His golden eyes angled upwards to the snowy riff, snowflakes catching on his ridiculously long eyelashes that Natasha usually teased him about, calling them cow lashes. He quickly checked his watch impatiently before resuming his crossed armed, hunched shoulders position to reserve warmth, waiting for the light glint to flash from over the riff so he could light the party up and get the hell out of there. He stood there for a moment longer, considering leaving before he saw his blue eyed brown haired friend pop his head up from the snowy bank with what looked like a maniac grin, it was a little hard to tell from this distance. Bucky swept his long unruly hair from his face then held up the little mirror to reflect the light of the sun, relaying the signal. Tony rolled his eyes and pulled six tiny charges from his pockets with frozen hands and clipped them all to the track a metre apart as fast as he could without much blood in his unresponsive fingers. Once he finished, he ran back to the foot of the snow riff and attached the belt hook Bucky had thrown down to him so he could be pulled to safety. Once he got to the top, Bucky grabbed him from under his armpits and hefted him into his arms as off the was a little baby. Tony slapped Bucky's chest and kicked his legs, squirming to get down.   
  
“Put me down you asshole!”   
  
“But, Tiny, you're so adorable an' small an' I just wanna gobble you all up!” Bucky protested buy put him down anyway.   
  
“I am not adorable you dick! Put me down right now before they see us!”   
  
“Well, I wasn't informed that it was hate on Bucky day.” Bucky sighed, giving Tony one last hug but putting back on the floor as he requested.   
  
Tony grunted and dropped to the floor at the same time as the hyperactive Bucky who was currently wiggling around and fiddling around with the snow, making a tiny snowman. Tony stared at Bucky for a solid ten seconds, a dumbfounded look plastered on his face. He shook his head in disbelief at the other teenager but continued to pull his binoculars and the trigger for the charges out of his pocket. He held the binoculars to his eyes and waited patiently for the train to arrive, occasionally kicking Bucky in the leg when he made noise. After waiting for roughly a minute, Tony spotted the train hurtling around the corner like there was no tomorrow, driving way faster than what was considered safe. Tony threw the binoculars at Bucky who fumbled to catch them with a little cry, obviously not expecting to have a pair of binoculars thrown at him. Tony grabbed the trigger and watched the train counting down the seconds for the train to go over the charges. Tony would have made them automatic but the chance of them going off prematurely or blowing up the wrong train was too high and definitely wanted. The train rushed over the charges and when the middle of the train was directly over the charges, Tony pulled the trigger. Instantaneously, the charges ignited and with a tremendous sound, the train splintered off into various directions. Tony and Bucky duck out of instinct, only peeping over the snowbank to see if the whole train was demolished. Both teens stared at each other, completely dumbfounded for a few moments, unsure what to do next. They remain still for a second then suddenly burst into celebration, laughing and hugging each other, smiles wider than a Cheshire cat. They both scrambled up, helping each other up clumsily while tripping over their own feet continuously.


	5. Prince of Darkness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Papa, I don't think I'm coming home tonight.” Tony whispered, his tears falling anyway. 
> 
> “Tony? Tony! Talk to me, what the hell is going on?”
> 
> “Papa, I'm so scared, there's something on the path with me, it won't move.”
> 
> Tony heart literally stopped for a few seconds, the light turned off.

It was a silent, dark night. Nothing really special or extraordinary but Tony couldn't help but feel a little on edge. Maybe it was just the Fae in him over analyzing things as per usual but now that he thought about it, his Fae senses were usually right. Tony stopped walking and listened closely. He heard nothing. That was the problem. He couldn't hear anything. No wind rustling the trees, no crickets, no owls or anything. The dark path, only lit by an eerie, dull, yellow coloured lamp, was usually filled with the typical nighttime noises. It was never so silent, the air never still. Everything about this just screamed wrong wrong wrong.

  
He felt his heartbeat accelerate, he started to walk again, faster this time, almost at a trot. He didn't want to run as he'd either look like an absolute tit or he'd excite whatever dark dreadful thing he was feeling or he'd just work himself up into a panic attack. None of those outcomes were positive so he continued to walk as fast as he could, praying that he'd see his house sooner rather than later. He wished his car hasn't given up the go in the University parking lot because right now, he'd do anything to not be exposed and vulnerable to whatever was out there. He tried to tell himself it was simply an effect of him relying on his car too much but he just couldn't shake the feeling he was being watched.   
  
Tony dug out his phone and scrolled through his contacts until he found "Papa" paired with the most ridiculous photograph of his father sleeping while wearing a face full of makeup and a tiara as a prank his mother pulled before she disappeared three months ago. Tony pushed the feeling of sadness down in his chest and clicked on the number, praying his father would maintain his streak of answering his phone no matter what. After three rings, his father never failed to live up to his high standard and answered with a bright and airy "Ello ello ello!"   
  
“Papa, I'm walking up because my car broke down but I'm freaking out because I swear something's not right and I think either there is some freaky voodoo shit going on or I'm losing my mind because this path is never this quiet! Like there is legit nothing going on, no wind, no tree rustling sound thing, no birds-”  
  
“Anthony, It's nine o'clock at night, of course there's no birds.” Howard deadpanned and Tony could practically hear the head shake.  
  
“Whatever, but it's super creepy out here and I don't know what do, I feel like I'm being followed, my Fae senses are all off on one. Am I being paranoid? Because I don't think I'm being paranoid, or maybe I am because I'm walking in the middle of the fucking night and it's super quiet and creepy and I honestly don't think it's safe out here right now and, holy shit what if-”  
  
“Tony, kiddo, you really need to calm down. Now tell me, where are you and why are you not in your car and is this a prank with Clint because if it is I will be very annoyed, I'm enjoying the best pizza right now.”  
  
“Ohh, pizza! You did save some for me, right?”  
  
“Yeah, course I did, I even kicked Obi out early especially for you since I know how much you hate him, not gonna lie, don't like him so much myself.”  
  
“Oh my God, you are the best!”  
  
“Yeah, yeah, I know but that's beside the point, answer my questions!”  
  
“Oh yeah, right, so I'm on the back path that comes up by our fishing spot, my car decided to fuck me over and one of the cylinders went and I didn't have the supplies to fix it and no, I wish this was a prank with Clint, like, right now, I'd do almost anything to get out if this situation right here.”  
  
“Even maintain eye contact with Obi's fucked up toe for twenty seconds?”  
  
“Okay, let's not get-” Tony's heart stopped.  
  
Only a few feet in front of him was a figure holding a red lantern, washing a horrifying blood red filter across the path. The figure was dressed in a a black hooded cloak with what looked like red silk lining the inside of the hood. They looked as if they had red curls hanging down over their shoulders but that may have been a trick of light.  
  
“Tony? Tony, honey what's the matter?” Either Howard picked up feeling of absolute fear and horror through the family bond or he could just tell something was seriously wrong as Tony didn't finish his sentence and if Tony had commitment to something, it was finishing what he had to say.  
  
Tony swallowed his tears, not wanting to alarm his dad too much.  
  
“Papa, I don't think I'm coming home tonight.” Tony whispered, his tears falling anyway.   
  
“Tony? Tony! Talk to me, what the hell is going on?”  
  
“Papa, I'm so scared, there's something on the path with me, it won't move.”  
  
Tony heart literally stopped for a few seconds, the light turned off.  
  
“Oh my God, papa, I'm so scared,” Tony cried in a whisper, hands shaking and breaths coming fast.  
  
“Tony, honey, I'm coming down now, just hold on, deep breaths, you're hyperventilating.” Howard said in the most soft, calm voice possible although it was completely opposite as the what he felt inside.  
  
Tony felt a sob rip from his mouth as the light returned as he stumbled backwards, but this time, there were more, all in a line with the same clothes as the first, brandishing the same creepy red lantern that looked as if it was from before the time of Christ.  
  
“There's more of them, Papa, there's more.” Tony sobbed.  
  
“Get out of there, Tony, you need to run fast in the opposite direction right the fuck now. I'm with Clint's dad and some others, we're almost there.”  
  
Howard really moved fast, too bad it was too late because as soon as Tony backed up, the light turned off then returned but this time, they had surrounded him in all their creepy black cloaked and red lantern glory. Tony clutched his phone to his chest, trying to milk the last feelings of comfort from his dad and his soft, soothing voice that never failed to keep him calm ever since he was a little boy.  
  
“I love you, Papa.” Tony whispered into the phone.  
  
The phone then fell from his fingers as the first black cloak reached forward, their red painted fingernails scraping gently across his cheeks then curling to wipe away the tears.  
  
  
“Tony? What's happening? Tony, don't- Tony! Tony, please answer me!”  
  
  
The hand trailed down the neck of the boy then settled with the thumb against his throat, all the movements so soft he wanted to be sick. The long, thin, boney thumb pressed into the soft tissue of Tony's neck until it hit something that switched him off like a light. He didn't even remember the arms that stopped him from hitting the floor and the desperate cries of his father that echoed throughout the night out of his phone speakers.  
  
  
  
...  
  
  
  
Tony woke to a soft humming, a soft, dark, masculine humming. The sound was beautiful yet haunting and it filled him with unexplainable feelings of fear, hatred and sorrow. Tony gradually remembered the events that had occurred previously and he wondered how he was still alive. He discreetly felt around his surroundings, trying to know what position he was in and if it was possible to put the skills his father had taught him to use and make a break for it. Tony slowly slid his right hand outwards, sliding along what felt like a silk mattress cover. He felt warm, as if he was covered by a thick duvet and with further exploration, he discovered that it was also silk. He fully extended his right arm and found no end to the bed so he decided it was larger than a single bed and judging by the cloud-like comfort the mattress provided, it was also rather expensive. This meant one of two things, either the people responsible for kidnapping him wanted him for a specific purpose that involved him being well looked after or they were trying to lull him into a false sense of security. He was betting on the latter. He started to explore the other side of the bed with is left foot but froze when he heard the humming abruptly stop. His heartbeat accelerated as he heard the person in the room get to their feet and gracefully and almost soundlessly move to his left bedside which confused him slightly. He heard another pair of feet, heavier this time, move to the right side of his bed and Tony mentally scolded himself for not picking out the second person in the room with him but finally realized why there was sound from both sides of the room. His whole body tensed as he felt the mattress to his left beside his head dip and an icy hand lightly trailed over his face, leaving his skin feeling numb and cold when the hand was removed. He had never felt anything like it and he didn't want to feel it again.  
  
“We know you're awake, dear one, we could hear your heartbeat change as soon as you breached your slumber. Open your eyes, my child, as we wish to see them.” A soothing feminine voice order from his left.  
  
Tony saw no point in keeping his eyes closed so he obliged, his eyes blinking open slowly for the first time in God knows how long. He's eyes instantly fell on a beautiful woman, so pretty that it hurt. She had full, red lips, plump, inviting and full of deadly poison. Her lips twisted into a smile, concerned and caring to most but dark, unforgiving and unloving to Tony. It sent an icy chill down his spine. Her skin was fairer than fresh cream from a cow, softer than delicate spider silk, whiter than snow, but unnatural and dead only in Tony's eyes. Her blood red curls contrasted vastly with the rest of her complexion, so prim and proper but drenched in blood, from where? Tony didn't even want to begin guessing. Lastly were her eyes, lovely, rare and bright green, like the leaves of a rosebush. Green like poison. Tony saw what was really behind the lies and façade she had fronted, all the false care and love and emotions. She knew nothing of a sort. Her eyes were empty. Emptier than a bottomless pit, emptiness vaster than space itself. All that her eyes showed were lies and manipulation and deceit. It absolutely horrified Tony. He needed to be as far away from this devil woman as soon as possible.  
  
Tony then looked to his right and his heart stuttered. He barely stopped his mouth from falling open in wonder and amazement at the unfathomable perfection of this man's face. His lips were pink and plump but chapped and bitten, displaying a never-ending nervous energy about the man. His skin was also oddly pale but not as much as the woman's. He had a slight rose hue to his cheeks and a light, almost invisible smatter of freckles high on his cheekbones and across the bridge of his nose. His dark brown hair hair contrasted with his pale face but blended nicely with his dark blue, regal clothing. His eyes were the colour of brushed steel mixed with a drop of blue from the clearest of tropical seas. His face was a mask of emotionlessness but his eyes betrayed the false front. Tony saw mostly sorrow, pain, loss and hatred but he saw fear, wonder and love also. This man had so much inside him but showed nothing, however, Tony saw it all and wanted to see more. He wanted to peer into the eye of his mind, pick apart what made him so dark and sad and mend it. Because Tony saw that he was a good man, despite whatever he'd lived through.  
  
“Good evening, young one.” The man said softly as he crossed his legs and placed a gloved hand on his knee. That was odd, only one of his hands were covered in an expensive leather glove, his right was free.  
  
Tony found himself wanting to smile at the man but stopped himself before it was too late.  
  
“Uh, hi. Who the fuck are you guys and where am I?” Tony asked bluntly and as soon as it left his mouth he knew it was the wrong thing to say.  
  
The man looked slightly taken aback with a hint of humour but the woman drew a knife and held it at Tony's throat, pressing down just enough to make Tony feel the bite of the metal against his flesh.  
  
“You will address the Prince with respect!” She sneered, menacingly leaning over Tony.   
  
Tony gulped in fear and tried to escape the cold stare and the knife but he just couldn't.  
  
“We don't treat our guests like that, Widow, especially those who do not of our ways or existence for that matter. Stay your hand, be at peace.” The man said softly, as he moved to lift the knife from Tony's skin with the tip of his index finger.  
  
Tony let out a sigh of relief as the blade was removed and barely suppressed a sigh when the soft fingers of the Prince trailed the cut now on Tony's throat. He felt the sting subside and watched as the Prince put the bloody finger into his mouth and sucked it clean.  
  
Wait, what?  
  
The Prince's eyes widened and he froze with his finger in his mouth. He discreetly sucked his finger very clean then put it back atop his knee.  
  
“I'm guessing you are confused, young one, I-”  
  
“Sorry to interrupt,” Tony really wasn't sorry and he didn't care that Widow's fingers twitched for her blade once again, “but can we nip that "young one" thing in the bud right now please? I'm actually sixteen so I'm not that young and judging by your looks, you're ten years older tops.”  
  
The Prince smiled fondly with a tiny chuckle while Widow remained blank.  
  
“All the more reason for me to call you such a name! You are a lot more youthful than I expected, a babe even! This will not affect our plans that much though, we may have to wait a couple of years.” The Prince rambled in his deep, soothing voice that could lull Tony to sleep. He would love to listen to that voice for hours on end.  
  
“I'm sorry, what? I am so confused, start from the part where you tell me who you are and why I'm here if that would please you or whatever.”  
  
“Well, before you so rudely interrupted, I was going to introduce myself and my companion. Now I shall try again and you shall not interrupt, yes?”  
  
“Yes, mister your majesty sir.” Tony replied with a salute, completely unsure of how to address a royal.  
  
The Prince's mouth twisted into a smile and he shook his head in disapproval.  
  
“Well, young one, my name is James Barnes, The Prince of Darkness, leader of the Covern, last ruler of the House of Winter. I am the last Vampire King.” He said with little enthusiasm. “This is my Royal Advisor, Natasha Romanov or Black Widow.”  
  
Tony blinked slowly as he attempted to absorb the information that had just been given to him. This guy was in-fucking-sane. Vampires had all died out, there was no more of them, there was only one last Coven and they had been undiscovered-”  
  
“Fuck, you are the King of the last Vampire Coven. The Coven of myth and legend.” Tony whispered.  
  
“Yes, as I basically just said.” The Prince said with an eye roll.  
  
“Oh yeah, sorry, I have this problem when I sort of repeat things that are out of this world crazy. It annoys the hell out of my dad.” Tony's face then crumpled at the mention of his father, realising that he may never see him again and how that would ruin the poor man, only just recently lost his wife also.  
  
“You have to give me back! My papa, I mean, my father probably really misses me and is probably really worried about me. We just lost mum, he can't lose me too! He probably won't want me to tell you this but he used to be suicidal and have really bad depression before I was born and now he's alone, he might do something stupid and I can't lose him too, he... He means everything to me and...” Tony ended his rant, realising he'd been crying and swiftly dried his tears, avoiding eye contact with the now shocked Prince.  
  
“I'm sorry, I did not know you had such a close bond. I apologize for doing this but it is necessary, you will come to realize that eventually.”  
  
“Eventually? Eventually? I need to go home now! I have a family, dude! How can you not understand that?”  
  
“Family is a weakness, we need you for a greater good.” The Prince said calmly.  
  
“Fuck the greater good, your majesty! My family is the only greater good in my opinion!”


	6. The Purity of Lies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Once upon a time, an angel fell in love with a demon.
> 
> It did not end well.

**_Part I_ **

Once upon a time, an angel fell in love with a demon.  
  
It did not end well.  
  
It all started with the angel. A beautiful, curious, pure blood angel. Pure bloods were of a direct line to the gods. Pure blood angels were the children of the archangels who were children of the gods.  
  
The gods are not like what most think. Some people think there is one God, some people think there are multiple. In this realty, every god that had been mentioned in the history books and holy books exist or existed in the past thousands of years. When a god had a child, their children were all powerful beings that were a combination of god and angel. Such beings were called arc angels. When an arc angel and another arc angel had a child, they would produce a pure blood angel and if pure bloods continued mating with other pure bloods, they would create a line of pure bloods, direct descendants to the gods.   
  
The pure blood angel this story will be focused on was the purest of the pure. He was the most beautiful in heaven above and he was respected and loved by all the angels. His loving heart was what was most attractive about him and he never ever thought a negative thought about anyone. It wasn't technically a sin to think unsavoury thoughts about someone but if it clashed with one of the basic laws, then it was considered a sin and that was what the annual repentance festival was for but that's a different story entirely.  
  
This young pure blood angel's name was Antonael Stark. He was smart, beautiful, caring and kind but his one weakness was his curiosity. The young angel was so curious that due to his unstable curiosity, he had gotten into much trouble for tampering with many such things that he should not dare. He was always forgiven however as he always felt such guilt for the trouble he'd caused and it was near impossible to hold a grudge against poor Antonael. His curiosity was usually disregarded or swept aside as it had never been to his or anyone else's detriment.  
  
This remained true until one fateful day when he ventured too far afield, to the outskirts of his heavenly home and discovered a curious character, sitting in a naked tree, just a good few feet from the border of the land of the undying souls. Antonael ceased his sweet humming, skipping and unintentional vandalism of the flora to look up at the being in the tree.  
  
The being had shoulder length blonde hair and a torso covered with curly blonde hairs. He was clad in dark trousers made from some sort of darker curly fuzz that Antonael had never seen before. However, he couldn't see the being's feet as they were hidden beneath his body. He was playing some manner of flute crafted from bamboo with holes in it and up his arms was blue writing and patterns in the most curious arrangements. Antonael focused on the being's head once more and gasped as his eyes landed on the huge, curling horns that protruded from his scalp and the dark brown, leathery, boney wings that stuck out from his back. The being's bright, almost electric, blue eyes swivelled up to him without stopping his dark, haunting music playing. Antonael squealed and dived down into the tall grass, trying to hide from this positively huge being. The being finally stopped playing to throw his head back and release a huge bellowing laugh that shook his whole body. Antonael stood up again gradually, looking at the being with a puzzled expression. The being looked at him with a not so friendly smirk on his face and gestured for him to come closer with quick head movement. Antonael, though very unwilling to approach the being as he had no idea who or what he was, let his curiosity take him over and he felt his feet lead him away from his safety zone and into the territory of the strange being. Antonael gave him a once over again and blushed when he realized that the being was completely topless but built like one of the Greek gods he'd seen when visiting the Southern heavenly quadrant. Antonael stared at the large being, as if stuck in a trance until he was broken out of it with a start when the being jumped out of the tree and landed a foot directly in front of him. Antonael's wings automatically came up to guard him from this powerful being that may or may not have meant trouble. The being stared down at this tiny, white haired, white winged child and knew instantly what he was.   
  
Pure blood.  
  
The blonde circled the white haired angel, stroking his wings as he went, causing the poor tiny thing to pull his wings in towards his body, as if that would help defend him from the huge muscular blonde if he really wanted to inflict damage. The being let his tail flick up and curl around the baby angel's waist, tip sneakily parting the cloth at his hip to touch the young one's soft, tanned thigh. The little angel didn't notice until the tail touched his inner thigh, causing him to yelp and bat away the tail while smoothing down his clothing. The being let out a rumbling chuckle and stared down at the pure blood, closely examining his soft features. The angel had a baby smooth face without a single blemish or flaw. He had huge honey coloured eyes with streaks of brown through them and he had long eyelashes that fanned out like tiny black wings on his eyelids. The being let his eyes travel down the body of the angel, taking in all his innocent beauty. The angel was clad in a mid thigh length long sleeved toga, displaying his pretty, tanned, muscular thighs. He wore brown lace up sandals that came up to his lower thigh. Over his attire, he wore a beautiful rainbow coloured cloak covered with butterflies and flowers that glinted gold in the light. The being marveled at the huge white wings that protruded from the angel's back, so long that the tips dragged on the floor. The being looked into the small angels eyes and saw something he could use to his advantage. His curiosity.  
  
The being finally stopped circling the small angel and stood directly in front of him in the most non-intimidating stance he could muster then took the angel's hand, kissing it as he bowed at the waist.  
  
“Greetings, young one. I am Steven, protector of the land of the undying souls. How may I be of service, fair one?”  
  
The small angel blushed and ducked his head cutely.  
  
“My name is Antonael, Mr Steven.” Antonael muttered while still bright red, “and I'm not sure how you could be of service.”  
  
“Never, in all my years have I seen anyone as beautiful as you, dear, Antonael. Come, sit, make an old soul happy.” Steven suggested as he motioned to the tree.  
  
“Um, sorry, Sir but my bearer always told me never to follow strangers, especially ones who look curious, like you.”  
  
“Whatever do you mean by curious, young one?” Steven questioned with a mock puzzled look on his face, hands on hips.  
  
“I do beg your pardon sir, but you have horns and yellow hair and blue eyes and bare wings and blue writings on your body and your feet are-” Antonael squinted at Steven's feet then jumped back in fear and surprise, “Cloven! You're a demon!” Antonael cried in fear as he turned to leave.  
  
“Don't!”  
  
Steven's tail shot out and curled around Antonael's wrist, preventing him from escaping. Antonael gasped in fear and tried to tug himself out of the demon's grasp.  
  
“Let me go!” Antonael cried.  
  
Steven put on his best distressed face and it worked, stopping poor, naive, little Antonael in his tracks.  
  
“I'm terribly lonely, you see, I only wanted a little company but no one wants me near them. Other demons believe me to be an abomination, a deformity cast from heaven at birth but the angels believe me to be an abomination from the underworld, thrown into their heavenly lands, a poison or a curse. They both decided that I was an outcast so the placed me here, an outcast as the guardian of a place that needs no guardian for the living cannot enter nor can the dead exit.” Steven finished his story and let his tail limply slip from Antonael's wrist and thump uselessly to the floor. He kept his eyes down and dropped his wings, looking more and more depressed as the seconds went on. Antonael felt awfully guilty so he silently crept forward and delicately took the hand of the demon before him.   
  
“I'm so sorry for what my kind did to aid in your suffering, if I was there I would have helped, I swear! The most I can offer at the moment though is my company, I hope that's enough for now.” Antonael said quietly, tipping Steven's head upwards so that their eyes could meet.  
  
Steven's eyes widened in shock at Antonael's statement and he gathered the tiny angel into his arms.  
  
“Not once has someone ever bestowed such kindness upon me! I shall be eternally grateful, young one.” Steven babbled, both his arms wrapped around the small angel's waist.  
  
“It's the least I could do, Mr Steven, do don't deserve this suffering and I pray that my company my put your tormented soul at ease.” Antonael said softly with his arms wrapped around Steven neck in a caring embrace.  
  
“Oh it will,” Steven muttered darkly, so silently that Antonael couldn't hear it over the soft whisper of the wind.  
  
Steven and little Antonael sat beneath the naked tree for hours on end, talking about their very different lives. Antonael found he rather enjoyed the company of the strange, large being and felt dreadfully that his own kind could cast away such a kind being before even stopping to get to know him.   
  
Soon, the trumpets sounded in the distance, summoning all the angels to gather in their respective homes with their relatives and friends. Young Antonael jumped up from his perch on an exposed tree root, dusted off this clothing and shook out his feathers in a hurry.  
  
“Oh dear, I didn't notice how the light had gotten away as I was so drawn into our conversation? I'm so sorry, Mr Steven, I must go, my bearer is probably wondering where I've run off to.” Antonael said in a hurry with a light chuckle, “Shall I see you tomorrow, Mr Steven?”  
  
The large being smiled.  
  
“Of course, my dear angel. Your presence is uplifting and as refreshing as a cool breeze in the summer.”  
  
“Summer? Only Gaia, land of humans has summer! Have you been? What's it like? Do they really have those creatures called pig? I have heard many stories of them, I hear they are the most beautiful and magnificent of all earth creatures! Can-” Steven pulled Antonael close by his waist and place his right index finger upon his soft, supple lips.  
  
“My dear, that is a story for tomorrow, when I'll see you next. For now, return home to your family and rest, you'll need it.” Steven said ever so softly as his hand slipped down from Antonael's lips to ever so slightly brush against his neck.  
  
“Why do I need rest?” Antonael asked a little nervously.  
  
“You'll extra energy to listen to all the grand tales about the magnificent land of humans and the wonderful fables of the earth creature, "pig", won't you?” Steven asked, a little patronisingly while tapping Antonael's perfect little nose.  
  
“Yes, I guess.” Antonael answered, pushing away from the being.  
  
“Good boy, now run along, don't want to be late for supper!”  
  
“I will find you here, won't I?”   
  
“Scout's honour.” Steven said while crossing his heart.  
  
Antonael wasn't sure what scout's honour meant but he ignored it and started to walk backwards, away from the being.  
  
“Goodbye, Mr Steven! I'll see you tomorrow; thank you for the stories.”  
  
“Goodbye, darling, I look forward to seeing you tomorrow.”  
  
  
  


 

**_Part II_ **   
  
It was dark. Still, dry and dark. Just as it was every day. There was no sunshine but it wasn't entirely dark. It seemed like it was just another overcast day in Britain but there wasn't any clouds or rain or anything of a sort. The ground was dry and cracked, as if there had been years of drought for hundreds of years and not a drop of rain had ever touched the surface. The rather odd thing was that it wasn't hot, nor had it been for billions of years, maybe even more. It had never ever been sunny or rainy since the beginning of this place. This very odd place everyone liked to call "The In between". Now this place wasn't quite heaven or hell but a weird mix between, hence the name "The In Between". It was a stagnant place of no change, only constant consistency. The sky was always grey, the air never ever moved and worst of all, there was no sound. No bird songs, no whistle of the wind through the trees, no chatter of the neighbours (mainly because there were no neighbours) no animal calls, no noise at all. Even a yell never carried for a distance greater than twelve metres. Some said it was because the density of the countless spirits that were packed into the area, stuck and not able to move on, cursed to wander "The In Between" for eternity. The rather eerie thing about the spirits was that you could only see them in your dreams if you slept in "The In Between". It was a horrible state of affairs as all they did was scream, cry and moan; sobbing for life and feeling once again. Wishing for anything but still nothingness for eternity.   
  
Little James stared longingly out of his bedroom window, wondering when or if this all would ever end.    
  
The sound of his barer washing the dishes and humming was literally the only sound in the vast nothingness. James, with a great sigh, removed himself from the window and sat himself down in a dusty kitchen chair at the table and begun to draw. He drew the same image every day at the same time to let his barer have a break from washing up. He hummed a little tune as the did this, to increase the noise level just slightly as the pencil scratching the paper was barely enough. They both did this on a daily basis because if someone stopped the constant noise for just one minute, it would become almost unbearable. The sound of constant and dead silence felt as if a thousand knives were ripping through one's ears.    
  
“It's bedtime, Jamie.” Spoke the soft and gentle voice of his bearer as he walked away from the empty sink.   
  
“But it's not right yet.” James replied, scraping his colouring pencil over the page harder and faster.   
  
“Come to sleep, my love, I'll sing to you just as I always do.”   
  
“Ok.” James replied bluntly as he tidied his pencils away and stacked his papers in a scruffy pile.   
  
His chair scraped backwards across the floor and his little feet pattered across the grey slate floor. He stretched out his small hand to fit into his bearer's and the two of the walked into the bedroom, his bearer's shoes clacking harshly upon the slated floor. The pair, one humming, the other silent entered the bathroom. James undressed then sat on the toilet lid as his bearer filled the barrel-like tub up with freshly pumped warm water that had an unknown origin. His bearer then swished his hand through the warm water to check the temperature, rolled up his sleeves then picked up little James and put him in the tub. He grabbed a small, grey rag and lathered it up with soap and softly washed the child, his soft humming filling the silence. James' bearer rinsed the rag then gently cleaned the little boy's face with it, placing a soft kiss on his soft cheek afterwards. He finished washing James then took him out of the tub and dried his body and wings. The pair left the bathroom again and got James dressed for bed. James sat on the bed and accepted a small spherical shaped object that popped open and could play music by pressing the tiny metal prongs inside given to him by his bearer before he went into the bathroom himself to get cleaned up and ready for bed.


	7. For You (An unfinished sequel to Forever and Always)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony never expected his world to crash around him with three words. He should have seen it, the signs were all around him, he just dismissed them. His love, his life, his world, his heart was vanishing before his eyes but he refused to see it.

Tony never expected his world to crash around him with three words. He should have seen it, the signs were all around him, he just dismissed them. His love, his life, his world, his heart was vanishing before his eyes but he refused to see it. His heart clenched when he heard Bucky leave the bed in the middle of the night, run into the bathroom and vomit. He'd stay in there for a while, vomiting more, choking and even crying softly, thinking Tony couldn't hear him. He came back to bed smelling faintly of vomit and toothpaste. Tony would hug him and pretend everything was fine.   
  
Tony was woken up one night by the Bucky's sobs, gasping, grating, pain filled sounds. Tony rolled over and opened his eyes to see Bucky sitting on the edge of their bed, clutching at his metal arm as it shook and spasmed. Tony couldn't hold in his gasp of horror when he saw the black veins that spread out from the metal attachment at his shoulder. Bucky spun around quickly when he realized Tony was awake and witnessing his agony. His whole posture slumped and he turned to curl into Tony, seeking the frightened omegas warmth. Tony rocked him gently, softly whispering to his shaking, crying boyfriend, trying to hold himself together as he had never seen Bucky in such a state. When Bucky eventually fell back into a fitful sleep, Tony's strong front fell and he let the tears trickle down his cheeks. He didn't know what was going on but Bucky had a secret and Tony knew it would spell doom for them both.   
  
....   
  
  
Tony woke up when the first rays of sunlight peeked through the curtains. He felt soft fingers tracing over all his features and soft breaths whispered over his cheeks. He opened his eyes and couldn't help the smile that crept over his face when he saw Bucky's love sick expression.   
  
“Good morning, my love.” Tony whispered.   
  
“You know, you have the cutest little freckles in the light. They go over your nose and under your eyes and high on your cheek bones but you have two odd ones, one on your bottom lip and the other on your brow bone. You have three white eyelashes on your right eye and one on your left. The hair at your left temple is blonde and it's the same on your hairline but it's so hard to spot because your hair is short and you dyed the tips. And now I'm looking into your eyes and your left is light brown with dark brown lines and the right is kind of hazel with a light green ring around the pupil.” Bucky whispered back as he ran a hand through Tony's hair then withdrew it to dry a tear that suddenly fell from his eye.   
  
Tony's smile faded and was replaced by a look of concern.   
  
“Are you in pain again, my love?   
  
Bucky laugh wetly and looked up at the sealing then back at Tony with a sigh.   
  
“No, it's not that, not that. I just realized that a good thing only lasts a short time then it gets taken away.” Bucky muttered as he pulled Tony into his chest with his right arm.    
  
“What's brought in this bought of depression, gorgeous?” Tony asked into Bucky's skin.   
  
“Nothing, dolly baby,”   
  
“It can't be nothing after I've heard you vomiting almost every night and crying in pain. I know something is up why won't you just tell me? Do you need to see a doctor?”   
  
Bucky laughed again, “Yeah, actually I have, that's the thing.”   
  
“You're kidding, you never go to the doctor willingly.”   
  
“I had to because I was in the gym and the pain got so bad I couldn't breathe and I couldn't stop shaking. Steve found me and freaked out then took me to Shield medical. They tested me and then they sent me to another hospital to get confirmation then they tested me three more times and they kept getting the same fucking results. They sent me home and there's nothing I can do about it.”   
  
“What were the results? What's wrong?”   
  
“You'd think that because I'm a supersoldier that this shit wouldn't happen to me. If it was six years ago I wouldn't have cared, I might have even welcomed it. Now I have you and you're my world and I don't want to lose you and-”   
  
“James. Tell me what's wrong!” Tony gritted out, lifting his upper body to glare at Bucky.   
  
“I don't know how to say it. I don't know if I even want to tell you...”   
  
“James, just tell me, it won't be the end of the world, we can get through this together, trust me.”   
  
“I have cancer.”   
  
Tony stopped breathing.   
  
Maybe it would be the end of the world.   
  
“What do you mean?”   
  
Bucky chuckled bitterly.   
  
“I mean that thing that kills people daily and ruins everything.”   
  
“But that's not possible, I mean, you have the super soldier serum and you heal from everything else so quickly and...” Tony's got higher and higher until it trailed of as he found his throat constricting, so tightly that he couldn't breathe.   
  
“The thing is, my variation of the serum is different to Steve's, the original. They fucked with mine so much that...” Bucky stopped speaking as he realised that Tony was getting out of there bed, putting on his (actually Bucky's) oversized jumper and was turning to leave the room. “Tony? Darlin', where are you going?”   
  
“Isn't it fucking obvious, James? I'm going to find a fucking cure! It's clear that those assholes don't know what the fuck they are talking about!” Tony shouted as he spun around, arms flailing around in anger.   
  
Bucky sat up, slowly (albeit painfully), mouth opened in shock at Tony's outburst.   
  
“Tony, love, I went to three different specialist, the best there are and it's always been the same result. There is literally nothing-”   
  
“I'm gonna stop you right fucking there, James. Because I am smarter and more driven that those fucking "specialists" who probably don't give a shit what happens to you or the people who love you! They just want your money and for you to get the fuck out of their office as soon as possible! And even if they did give a shit, they don't have my state of the art technology that would run circles around their "new age technology". I'm going to find a way to save you and it's going to be a fucking breeze.” Tony spat before trying to leave again.   
  
“Tony, you're not a biologist, you don't know about cells or-”   
  
“Sorry, but who the fuck has seven doctorates and who is null and void?”   
  
“Tony-”   
  
“That's what I thought. Now shut up so I can leave and concentrate on the important things like saving your fucking life!”   
  
“I don't want you to leave! I want you to stay here with me-”   
  
“Don't be so fucking selfish, James! I'm going to make sure we have all the time in the world and you're being selfish and trying to stop me!”   
  
“No, Tony, I'm not. I'm being realistic. I want to spend as much time as possible with you right now and you're the one being selfish. I don't have anymore time! I'm FUCKING dying, Anthony!”   
  
Tony's jaw clacked shut as he stared into Bucky's eyes, heart pounding, eyes filling with tears. Bucky sighed and started to get off the bed when Tony snapped out of this trance, blinked back his tears and walked away, leaving Bucky alone in the beautifully sunlit room.   
  


  
...   
  
  
Steve found Bucky on the edge of the helipad watching the sunset; his hair was free and loose in the wind. Steve noticed his shoulders shuddering and instantly, Steve's worry grew.   
  
“Hey, Buck, what's up?” Steve asked delicately as he sat beside his friend.   
  
Bucky looked up and swiftly wiped away whis tears. “Nothing, man, just got a lot of shit on my mind.”   
  
Steve lightly clapped Bucky on his left shoulder but suddenly withdrew when Bucky flinched and grunted in pain. Bucky rotated his shoulder slowly, rubbing the skin around it gingerly as he looked out across the horizon once again.   
  
“I'm sorry,” Steve said as he placed both his hands in his lap, out of harm's way.   
  
Bucky simply shook his head in a dismissal.   
  
“Tony's super angry at me.” He sighed. “And I really don't know how to make it better since this is all pretty far out of my hands.”   
  
“What happened?” Steve asked softly, ready to jump in with some relationship advice.   
  
“First, I have to tell you what's wrong but please don't do anything drastic.” Bucky said with a waver in his voice.   
  
“Buck, what do you mean? I-”   
  
“Promise me, Steve!” Bucky interrupted, making eye contact with Steve as tears once again started to roll down his cheeks.   
  
Steve's heart stopped at Bucky's reaction, beginning to feel extremely scared for both his "brother" and his best friend.   
  
“I promise,” He barely whispered out.   
  
Bucky nodded and broken eye contact once again, looking into the distance while he wrapped his arms around his body, as if he was trying to seek comfort.   
  
“I'm dying, Steve.” Bucky whimpered.   
  
Steve's heart broke.   
  
“What do you mean?” He asked, his voice cracking as he spoke.   
  
“I have cancer, Steve, apparently I've had it for an extremely long time but Hydra had their ways of holding it off until they were finished with me or until I ran away. And there's no way to get rid of it and I have like a year to live and I don't know what to do!” Bucky blurted, tears flowing more and more until he could hardly speak.   
  
Steve stared at his lifelong friend in horror, unsure of what to do or what to say to make this better, to make it all go away. It couldn't be possible, it couldn't be real! He couldn't be losing his brother in arms, they had been through thick and thin, it just made no sense.   
  
“I feel like this is karma, Steve! This is what I get for hurting and killing so many people. I get hurt back and I lose everything I've ever loved because that's what I did to so many people.” Bucky was sobbing now, his whole body shaking as he gasped for air in-between words.   
  
Steve felt numb.    
  
He felt useless too because even though he saw his friend crying his eyes out in front of him, he couldn't bring himself to move at all. His arms where plastered to his lap and his ass to the concrete as he stared at Bucky in disbelief.   
  
“Why are you just sitting there staring at me, Steve? Fucking do something! Shout, scream, hit me I don't fucking care! Just-”   
  
A sob left Steve's mouth before he could prevent it. He slapped both his hands over his mouth as more and more sobs escaped without his control. He felt a sudden river of tears break through his external barrier of toughness and strength. Deep, ugly, soul wrenching sobs left his mouth, casting him further and further into despair as he realised that next year this time, his life long friend, his brother might no longer be on this earth and there was not a thing he could fucking do to fix it. It was worse than the first time as he hadn't had to watch his brother literally dying. It was quick and jarring but he'd "died" himself only a few weeks later in the middle of a war so there was no time for it to really sink in. This time, he'd have to sit there and watch the world crumble around them and he'd have to watch Tony Stark break and possibly never return to who he was.   
  
Steve jumped as he felt a metal arm curl around him, the usually strong, indestructible limb suddenly feeling weak, like it was made of the most fragile, thin glass. Steve turned his wet face to Bucky and opened his watery blue eyes and if it was possible, his heart broke more as he saw the expression of fear, sadness and bone deep hopelessness in Bucky's icy blue eyes. Steve wrapped his arms around the brunette man's shoulders and breathed in his scent, trying to commit it to his memory. He stroked a large hand through Bucky's brunette waves and tried to swallow his own grief temporarily as Bucky's own sobs rose above his own. Soon, they were both just shaking, floods of tears still running down red cheeks and Steve opened his eyes to the beauty of the sunset over the New York skyline. He'd never felt worse, more ugly and bitter inside. It was like the universe knew that his world was falling apart and sent the beauty of the setting sun to mock them all.


	8. Here and Now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve Rodgers was from a powerful family with even more powerful allies. They were untouchable, never afraid, never unsafe. However, the higher the pedestal, the greater the fall. After an assassination attempt, the family is torn asunder and life is never the same.

He was finally home. He stepped out of his blue classic Mustang convertible, a gift from his father when he turned sixteen, and breathed in the fresh air. He needed this, after months on end of stealth missions and undercover work, he needed an ounce of normality, even if it was only for a few days.

  
Steve unlocked the door and crept into house, he heard the sound of laughter and joy and he wanted not to disturb it. He quietly padded to the living room where he saw his three brothers playing together in the centre of the room. Little Tony was squealing and crying with laughter as he tried to fend off Arno's tickle attack. Bucky was building a Lego™ tower then shouting at Arno when his long leg accidentally knocked it over. Steve settled beside his father with a soft smile on his face.   
  
“They shouldn't be acting so childish, especially Arno.” Howard muttered bitterly.   
  
Well, normality was overrated in this house with Howard around always fucking shit up.   
  
Steve threw him a cold glare at his father, “Give him a break, he only just got back from his first mission, he deserves time to unwind and relax with the kids.”   
  
“He need not set such a bad example for them so early. He should be teaching them how to be responsible, mature and respectable.”   
  
“Yeah, maybe he should do it rather that you because you don't know shit about being a respectable or responsible person,” Steve spat quietly at him.   
  
Howard glared at him, thrusting a finger in his son's face, “Watch your mouth, boy, are you forgetting who you're talking to?”   
  
Steve smirked humorlessly, “What you gonna do, daddy? Beat me until I bleed again? We all know how that fucking ended.”   
  
Howard ground his teeth together and turned back to his other three romping son's who were now all tickling each other.   
  
“Why the hell are you so desperate to fuck up Bucky and Tony already, huh? Bucky only just turned eight and Tony's fucking three years old!”   
  
“He'll be four in a couple months.”   
  
“And that fucking matters how? The point is that they are children. Young, innocent children and if you dare fuck them up like what you did to me and Arno, I will end you.”   
  
“So it's my fault you started cutting yourself up like a teenage girl and that Arno is a drug addict? I don't control what you do, it's not my fault you and your brother are so weak minded.”   
  
“What did I say, you have no idea how to be a responsible human being. Arno and I are strong minded, if we weren't, we'd both be dead right now. That would make you happy, wouldn't it?”   
  
Howard didn't answer.   
  
“You disgust me. Don't you dare touch my brothers or I will put a bullet through your fucking skull.” Steve spat as he stormed off to the kitchen where he heard his step mother's voice singing sweetly.   
  
Maria turned around to see that Steve's face was twisted up and flushed in anger as he walked into the kitchen.   
  
“My dear, why must you fight with your father every time you come home? You know he's an insufferable bastard so when he spouts his nonsense, you should walk away and ignore him.” Maria soothed as she ran both her hands over her step son's unshaved cheeks.   
  
“Mama, I know but he was talking about how Arno's a bad example to the boys and how they need to grow up and start training or whatever. He makes me so angry, mama, I can't stop him from getting under my skin! I swear, one day, I'll punch him out and get arrested.”   
  
“Did he mention the cutting again, sweetheart?” Maria asked sympathetically, brushing long blonde bangs from her husband's eldest child's eyes.   
  
“Yeah, and Arno's drug problem.”   
  
“He uses that against you because he knows it's one of your holes in your armour and it'll get you riled up. The man is pathetic, my love, you know this, he will use anything to get a reaction out of you. I know it's hard for you to ignore but you must.”   
  
Steve sighed and nodded his head.   
  
“It's good to see you, finally,” Maria whispered, gathering her tall, muscular son into her arms.   
  
“I know, mama, you too,” He replied, returning he hug.   
  
“Please don't stay away for so long again, Tony was getting nightmares that you'd never come back and every day, he'd become more convinced you weren't coming back like you'd promised and we had no way to prove that you were.”   
  
“I'm so sorry,”   
  
“I know you can't do anything about it,”   
  
A beat passed.   
  
“They miss you, they want you to come back and live at home.” Maria said softly as she pulled away and went to fetch a tray filled with glasses and a jug of orange juice.   
  
“We all know that's not gonna happen, especially since he's here.” Steve grumbled.   
  
“I know, my love,” She handed him the tray, “Take these to them and your grandfather, I'll be there in a moment with some lunch.”   
  
Steve walked into the living room and quietly placed the drinks on the table before clearing his throat. The three brothers looked up and burst into a happy frenzy.   
  
“Stevie!” Bucky shouted, jumping up from the floor and running around in circles.   
  
“La casa di mio Stevie!” (My Stevie's home!) Tony squealed as he ran to Steve with his arms wide open. The toddler threw himself into Steve's arms and laughed when he twirled him around and kissed his chubby cheeks.   
  
“Hey, dude! I was waiting six months for the glorious return! Why didn't you call ahead?” Arno asked excitedly as he picked up Bucky who had ran into a sofa then wrapped his free arm around Steve in a side hug.   
  
“Why would I want to ruin the surprise?” Steve teased.   
  
Arno laughed then grew serious.   
  
“We were thinking you'd jumped ship, if you know what I mean,” Arno said softly.   
  
“Nah, and leave four of my favourite people in the world? I don't think so,” Steve replied with a wink.   
  
“Oh, by the way, C'è un cecchino al di fuori. Hydra ci ha trovato.” (There's a sniper outside. Hydra found us.) Arno said.   
  
“Cool.” Steve replied, keeping his mood from changing visually.   
  
“Papà, siamo nei guai,” (Dad, we're in trouble.) Arno said to Howard who grew a stormy expression.   
  
“Wonder how that happened? Looks like Steven brings home strays.” Howard muttered as he produced a gun from nowhere.   
  
“Now is not the time for your bullshit, Howard.” Steve spat as he started to walk back to the kitchen to hide Tony who knew what was being said and was starting to get scared.   
  
The glass was shattered before Steve could get anywhere near the kitchen and his sleeping grandfathers head exploded, causing the two young boy to scream in horror and the others to curse the air blue. Bullets were now being shot at them rapidly, the sniper apparently giving up due to the rapid movement. Steve and Arno ran behind the sofa and hid, trying to calm down the two young boys who were screaming and crying in fear at the scene around them. Maria darted out of the kitchen with a gun of her own in hand, shooting at the Hydra assassins that were attempting to kill her family.   
  
“Get to the kitchen! Get them out of here! I'll try and cover you!” Maria shouted.   
  
The two older boys nodded and looked for a way out. Maria kept shooting and Steve gave Tony to Arno, ordering him to walk forward as he pulled the sofa closer to the kitchen door. They managed to get to the divider that was reinforced by steel, purposely designed for something like this if it were to happen. Steve peeked around the column to see what was going on. He saw Maria laying lifeless on the floor in a puddle of her own blood, Grandpa Joe's head had been fucking blown off and Howard was leaning against a wall, bleeding heavily from his stomach and panting for breath.   
  
“Get into the cupboard under the sink, there a tunnel that leads to an underground shelter and a phone. When you get to the phone, call the number on the wall. Shield will find you and take you to safety.” Howard signed tiredly.   
  
“What about you? They'll kill you!” Steve signed back rapidly.   
  
“Doesn't matter, all that's important is that you and your brothers are safe.”   
  
Steve nodded then ducked back around the divider. He told the other three what they needed to do then scooped up a panicking Tony. The made it halfway across the kitchen when Arno got shot in the back and dropped Bucky who went into hysterics. Steve grabbed Bucky's arm and pulled him in front of him. Steve felt a bullet rip through his shoulder and lodge into Bucky's. Bucky screamed in agony and Tony started to cry once again. Steve pushed on and shoved them into the cupboard under the sink.   
  
“Do what Daddy said, okay? Buck, I know you're in pain but you have to get yourself and Tony to safety. Call the number on the wall, help will be on the way very soon, I promise you,”   
  
“What about you?” Bucky sobbed, clutching onto little Tony who was crying so hard that he couldn't breath.   
  
“It doesn't matter, all you need to do is call the number then everything will be okay, I love you both.” Steve kissed his brothers on the head then closed them in the cupboard, locking the door into place.   
  
He scrambled back to Arno and pulled him into his lap, checking how bad his shot wound was. He heard the door smash open and men shouting rapid Russian, piling into his once magnificent home. His father was grabbed off the floor and dragged outside. A man with a skull tattooed on face and a slender body stomped into the kitchen and chuckled sadistically when he saw the two brothers laying on the floor, covered in one another's blood.   
  
“Well, well well, look what we have here!” The man crowed, grabbing Steve by the jaw, forcing him to look up at him. “I just can't wait to play with my new toys!”   
  
He clapped his hands and two extremely muscular men stomped in and ripped the brothers apart, ignoring their shouts of protest. Steve got especially testy and when he saw a gap, made a well calculated kick to his captors groin. When the man fell to the ground, howling in pain at his crushed nether regions, Steve artfully flipped himself off the ground and started making a last minute attack. He fought hard but was breathtakingly outnumbered and subdued within seconds. The last thing he saw while his arms were painful twisted behind his back by two steroid pumped junkies was a knuckle duster clad fist.   
  
  
....   
  
  
Steve woke up to a throbbing headache and a sandpaper like dryness in his throat. He opened his eyes slowly to find that he was laying on the floor in a dark, freezing, dirty, musty smelling room beside his father and brother who were both unconscious. Steve sat up, ignoring the pain in his back to survey the room. It was damp, mildew clung to every corner of the room. The floor was dusty, covered in slimy puddles of water and other manners of evil Steve dared not think about. In the back right corner was an old fashioned CCTV camera that was focused on them. A red light flashed on it, showing Steve that it was recording them. There were no windows, only a huge, complexed bolted door that was made from thick, impenetrable, solid metal. Steve looked down at both his father and brother and was relieved to find them relatively unharmed and rousing from their unconscious state.   
  
“There's no weaknesses, there's no way out of here.” Steve stated before anyone could ask.   
  
Howard stared down at his feet in despair while Arno curled into Steve to share body heat. They sat in silence for about twenty minutes before the higher door unlocked and slowly swung open. The man with the skull tattooed on his face strolled into the room, head held high and a smug smile was plastered over his face.   
  
“Well, well, well, look what I got me! Three of the notorious Stark crew! And they all told me that you were impossible to catch but I caught you pretty easy easy, didn't I? Well, never mind about that my lovelies, I've got a little game to play with you! It's called,” The man's voice suddenly lost all its superficial sweetness and demented playfulness and became dead serious, “where the fuck is T.E.S.S.E.R.A.C.T?”   
  
The man shot Arno in the thigh, causing him to cry out in agony and shock. Both Howard and Steve began to throw insults and threats at the man and he shot Arno again.   
  
“I better start getting some motherfucking answers or I'll blow his head off.” The man said sternly as he dragged a terrified Arno away from Steve and forced the gun to his head.   
  
“I don't know! It went offline three years ago! We can't find it!” Howard shouted, beginning to get up, terrified his son was going to die.   
  
“LIER! Now I'm going to kill your son and it'll be your goddamned fault,” He was about to pull the trigger and kill Arno when Steve screamed out.   
  
“WAIT! Please don't kill him, I'll do anything you want, just please don't kill him! We honestly don't know anything! He's only eighteen and I'm twenty, why would we be trusted with T.E.S.S.E.R.A.C.T intel?” Steve rambled, trying his hardest for his tears not to roll down his face.   
  
“Oh, you'll do anything, pretty boy?”   
  
Steve nodded frantically.   
  
“What are you doing, Steve?” Howard yelled.   
  
“Remove your clothing.”   
  
“What?” Steve asked, utterly puzzled by the request.   
  
“Remove your clothing before I blow your brothers head off!”   
  
Steve held onto the hem of his shirt hesitantly, wondering what this man was going to do to him.   
  
“Three,”   
  
Steve ripped off his shirt.   
  
“Two,”   
  
Then his trousers.   
  
“I did it! Okay! Please don't shoot him!” Steve cried, unable to keep the tears out of his voice.   
  
“Everything,” The man sung as he waved his gun in the gun in the direction of Steve's underwear.   
  
Steve let the tears roll down his face now. He know understood what the man wanted from him and he almost backed out when he realised that he'd have to do this infront of his father and brother. He did it anyway. He'd do anything to keep his brother alive.   
  
“Get on your knees and crawl over to me, doll face,” The man said huskily, grinning and eyeing Steve's naked body.   
  
“Steve! Stop! I'm not worth it! Don't let him-” Arno started.   
  
“Shut the fuck up or I'll blow his head off, fuck his corps then blow your father's head off and make you watch all of it.” The man growled, pointing the gun at Steve's head.   
  
Howard watched in horror as his eldest son, reduced to tears, crawled over to a man who was rubbing his crotch greedily and watching him, like he was a piece of meat.   
  
“Turn around, face down, ass up,”   
  
Steve sobs got louder as he did what the man said.   
  
“SHUT UP!” He pointed the gun at Arno again.   
  
Steve had to cover his mouth in order to stay quiet.   
  
Howard turned away, bile rising in his throat, unable to watch as his son was destroyed.   
  
“Watch or I'll shoot him in the face!” The man screamed.   
  
Howard looked up again.   
  
“Finger yourself open, whore,”   
  
Steve did as he was told, sobbing silently as he did it.   
  
“That's enough, greedy slut,” He spat as he kicked Steve's hand away and placed one booted foot on his head, keeping him pinned down.   
  
He pulled himself out of his pants, spat in his hand to slick up the forced himself into Steve who was very underprepared. Steve screamed and struggled against the man. The pain was too much, he couldn't take it. He felt himself tearing at the intrusion and blood was starting to make the dry burn disappear but it was replaced by a deep internal pain that he'd never felt before. It made him want to vomit. Steve faintly heard Howard calling to him, telling that he would be okay and he heard Arno crying out in anger, appalled at what the man was doing to his brother. The man finished quickly, pulled out and kicked Steve across the floor, sending him tumbling into the concrete wall behind him.   
  
“When I come back tomorrow, I want real answers and no amount of begging will stop me from shooting that son of a bitch,” The man pointed the gun at Arno, “In the head.”   
  
The man walked out and slammed the door behind him, big bolts locking into place.   
  
Howard shuffled closer to Steve.   
  
“Steven, I'm so-”   
  
“Fuck off,” Steve muttered darkly as he pulled himself into a painful sitting position.   
  
“Steven, I-” Howard started, reaching out to Steve.   
  
“Don't touch me!” He screamed, moving further away from his father.   
  
Howard sighed, defeated and moved away from the traumatised, shaking boy. Arno slowly crawled over to his brother, helped his into his discarded shirt and cautiously gathered him into his arms. To his surprise, Steve accepted the embrace and buried his face into his collarbone and cried softly.   
  
“I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry,” Arno whispered as he tried to soothe his brother. He looked up at Howard and was shaken to the core to see the usually stone cold, emotionless man, crying silently, head tilted up, lips moving silently, as if he was praying. It was a dark, cold, sleepless night for all three. The anticipation of tomorrow weighing down on their shoulders.   
  
  
....   
  
  
Many hours later, the metal door swung open again, the man with the tattooed face stepped in, a spring in his step and a smile on his lips.   
  
“So! You know what I'm here for, talk to me!” He grinned darkly at Howard, “Tell me where T.E.S.S.E.R.A.C.T is or, as I promised yesterday, I'll blow off your son's head.”   
  
Howard shook his head, as tears welled in his eyes. He honestly had no idea where the intel was and if he did, he'd tell the man in a heartbeat, just to keep his boys safe.   
  
“I swear to the Gods above, I no idea where it is. It vanished off our servers years ago and we haven't been able to track it down. Please, please don't hurt them anymore, I'm telling the truth, I swear on my life that I'm telling you the truth. If I knew I'd tell you but I honestly don't so please, I beg you to spare their lives.” Howard pleaded sincerely.   
  
The man's face twisted, “Wrong answer.” He cocked the gun and pointed it at Arno's head.   
  
“No! Don't! I'm telling the truth! Don't shoot him,” Howard swallowed and didn't bother holding back his tears any longer, “He's only a boy, he doesn't deserve to die over this, shoot me, shoot me instead, I deserve to die for this, not them. Please don't kill him he's only a boy.”   
  
“What did I tell you, Howard? I told you yesterday, after I fucked your other son that I'd come back for the little ones life in the morning if you didn't give me what I wanted. That was a promise, and I told you that no about of begging would stop me from doing what I intend to do.”   
  
Steve moved swiftly in front of Arno, “I won't let you hurt him! I can't, you'll have to shoot me first. If you don't shoot him, I'll let you use me for whatever you want, I'll go willingly,” Steve pathetically tried to bargain.   
  
“Look at you, so desperate for your body to be used for another man's pleasure for a second time. I'm sure you can't get any lower than that. Look at yourself, you still have blood and my cum dried on your thighs and you're already so eager to go again. You're a dirty whore and you're so sick that you'd use such an opportunity to get fucked.“ The man walked closer and brushed Steve's dirty, blonde bangs from his eyes with the nozzle of the gun, causing Steve's breath to quicken, “I like your offer though, I'll never pass up on a willing slut.”   
  
He leaned in close, mouth ghosting over Steve's ear. “But I did make a promise last night, didn't I?”   
  
The man shot Arno in the head over Steve's shoulder and Steve felt blood and fragments of bone shower him.   
  
“FUCK! SHIT!” Howard screamed with wide eyes, he was shaking so hard, he never saw it coming. He gagged and dry heaved, tears rushing down his face like a waterfall. He barely registered Steve screaming. Howard came to his senses when he saw Steve about to turn around and look at the mess that used to be his brother.   
  
“NO! Stevie, don't turn around, eyes on me, eyes on me!” Howard cried and he watched his son going into shock as he turned to look at his dead brother.   
  
“You'll be dead by dusk, Stark, and I'll keep your son as my personal fuck toy,” The man walked out, leaving the horrified father and son in the room with their family member's mutilated body.   
  
“Come here, Steve,” Howard managed to choke out, shuffling forward to his eldest son who was still screaming.   
  
Howard gripped his eldest son tightly running a trembling hand through his hair. Steve screamed into the juncture between Howard's neck and shoulder, tears and mucus soaking into the cloth of Howard's filthy white dress shirt.   
  
“I'm so sorry, bambino, I'm sorry I couldn't protect Arno, I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry.”   
  
Steve couldn't breath.   
  
  
....   
  
  
Hours passed and once again, as the man promised, he came back with his gun and jagged smile.   
  
“Hello my dears! I'm here for my last victim!” He sung, shaking his gun around like it was a maraca, “Any last words?”   
  
“You're a monster,” Steve whispered, turning around to look the man in the eye while still clutching onto his father.   
  
“Oh, sweetheart! Tell me something I don't know,” The man chuckled with a roll of the wrist.   
  
He cocked the gun and pointed it at Howard's head, “Well, goodbye, you died at the hands of Red Skull!”   
  
“I love you, I'm so sorry,” Howard whispered shakily to Steve before a bullet buried itself in his skull.   
  
Howards head fell back, his body heavy and lifeless. Steve looked at his father's face. It was a little beautiful that he was finally peaceful. He finally lost the anger, hatred, disappointment, betrayal and bone deep sadness in his eyes. He finally looked at peace and it was heart stopping. Steve cried, still holding onto the body of his father, not willing to accept that he was gone for good. Red Skull grabbed him by the back of his grimy shirt and pulled him away forcefully. He grabbed Steve by the wrist and shoved him against a wall and pinned him there. He freed his member and proceeded to pound the sobbing boy against the wall, making sure he could see the bodies of his brother and father.   
  
“After yesterday you still feel as tight as a virgin,”   
  
He came loudly inside the sobbing boy, biting down on his neck, hard enough to draw blood. He pulled out and let Steve fall to the floor before spitting on him.   
  
“Whore.”   
  
Steve didn't pick himself off the floor or watch Red Skull leave. He stayed on the floor with his head down, still sobbing at the loss of his brother and father. He thought about how his mother was dragged into a life of darkness and was killed, trying to keep her children safe. He thought about his baby brothers and if they ever made it out of that house and if they did, what would become of them? They didn't have any other family so they were alone in this world at eight and three. Steve never thought he would get out of there. Once Skull got tired of fucking him, he'd kill him and there was no way of stopping that.   
  
  
...   
  
  
It felt like decades. He felt like he'd been trapped inside that disgusting concrete room with the bodies of his father and brother for decades. He could have even sworn he was beginning to smell them or it was the ejaculation from Skull still caked in his hair, dried on the floor, on his face, on his shirt, still warm inside him. It may have been the bloody vomit that couldn't seem to stop pouring from his throat. He was almost positive that Skull had fucked bloody hole into the back of his throat because all that he saw when he opened his mouth was blood. He had lost the capability to swallow due to the abuse his throat had gone through and he was more than ready to give up and die. His mind wandered to his baby brothers once again. Were they safe? Had they managed to get to safety? Did Shield find them in time? Was he the last of his family? He would have liked to think he would have fought to stay alive for his baby brothers but he didn't see the point. They were so young, too young to be without parents but if they made it to Shield, he knew there were more than enough people willing to take such young children. Bucky was eight and Tony was three. Bucky would remember his old family but not really miss them that much and Tony would probably forget this whole ordeal by ten or it would be a distant memory.   
  
He had been so desperate for it to be over that he had tried to brain himself on the concrete wall but the camera picked up that he was harming himself and two guards burst in, knocking him out before he caused irreversible damage to himself. Now, he was so pumped up on sedatives that he didn't even have the strength to raise a finger. He was basically a puppet laid out on a dirty mattress in a freezing cold room. Earlier that day, or maybe it was weeks ago, he had lost all ability to estimate time in the timeless concrete box, Skull's lackies had come in and dumped multiple basins of freezing water onto him, as Skull "didn't want his little toy to get too dirty". He lay there, shivering like he was out in a blizzard in the Alps since. Each breath he took felt like his lungs were on fire, his throat felt like it was permanently closed and his body throbbed in agony, never having even half a day to heal from his bruises. He'd stopped shivering now. He couldn't remember if it was a good thing or a bad thing. Was hypothermia when you were shivering or so cold you stopped shivering? As he tried to get his muddled brain to start working correctly, the door was flung open again, no one even bothered to lock it anymore due to his complete inability to move. He could barely make out Skull walking over to him, a leering smile plastered on his face. That smile used to always made Steve feel like punching the bastard in the face but lately, he couldn't even summon the power to hate the man anymore. At least he paid him attention and called him beautiful while "making love" to him. Skull knelt down on the mattress, still grinning as he freed himself from his pants and tucked into Steve's unmoving body with sickening ease. Steve couldn't cry anymore, it's like all the tears had dried up. Ether that or he'd now lost complete feeling in the lower half of his body, he really couldn't tell what was going on anymore.   
  
“My dear, you've lost it, you don't feel good anymore, your all loose and disgusting, I think it's time for my to find myself a new toy.” Skull whispered in his ear while still lazily thrusting into his unmoving body.   
  
Steve felt guilty for being so unappealing, he knew it wasn't his fault but he still, for some sick reason, wanted Skull to enjoy him so he'd keep coming back and not leave him alone in the cold, horrible room. He barely felt Skull building up speed when a resounding bang sounded through the concrete room. Skull stopped all movement suddenly and slumped forward onto Steve's chest, still hard as a rock inside him. Steve felt wetness seeping into his shirt and when he looked down, he saw Skull's blood leaving his body and now drenching him. Skull wasn't breathing or moving and he was bleeding out so Steve guessed the man was dead, laying on top of him, dead. Steve felt a pang of something run through him. He wasn't sure if it was anger, sadness or relief but when he saw blurry Sam crouch over him and pick his damaged body off the mattress, he heard himself distantly crying out and limply reaching for the corpse that had kept him company for all that time.   
  
  
....   
  
  
Everything blurred together, nothing made sense, nothing felt real, nothing was founded. Everything just seemed to endlessly float through the air, never settling, never making any damn sense. He wasn't sure if he was awake or dreaming, whether he was dead or alive. It all mixed together in an endless loop. All white wall, and sanitary scents. The endless chatter of people, the infernal beeping of machines, someone screaming, screaming as if they were in horrible, nightmarish pain. They screamed and screamed and screamed and they wouldn't stop. The only way to escape the screaming was when it all went black but when it went black, the monsters came. They ripped his flesh and tore his eyes, his tears turned into blood as sharp, razor blade teeth descended upon his body, chewing away until he was only a skull, a horrifying red skull, laughing maniacally at the bodies of the people he once knew in a beautiful dream of joy and happiness, peace and hope. They were all dead, the worst was the little baby, tears still upon its face as its eyes reflected the last thing it saw. Absolute, pure horror. The blackness disappeared, giving way to shouting voices and beeping and pain and screaming and fear and anxiety and the smell and the screaming and the screaming and the screaming and–   
  
Blackness once again.   
  
It slowly stopped. The manic screaming and the beeping and the endless floating. He could feel again. He could remember his name. Steven Grant Rogers-Stark. He remembered that he was the first and only born to both Howard and Sarah. He remembers that Sarah died. He remembered the sadness and the tears. He remembers being lonely. It was just him and Howard, back when Howard loved him. Then there was Maria, a beautiful woman they met in Italy. She couldn't speak a word of English but she was so lovely and wonderful. He remembered the days of happiness and freedom. Then there was Arno, Arno Stark, his best friend, his partner in crime. They had a good run before he remembered the change. Everything suddenly got darker, Howard looked at him is scorn rather than love, Maria lost the selfless love she had. She was still wonderful but a lot more fake. He remembers the first hit Howard gave him, how much it hurt, how much he tried to believe it was a mistake but they kept on coming, harder and harder each time until he woke up in hospital. He went home and Howard didn't stop hurting him and no one could stop him until many years later when he grew stronger and hurt Howard back, ten times harder than he'd hurt him. Then there were girls, young and younger, slinking into his home and into Howard's bed, leaving with more money in their pockets than they had when they arrived. There were so many until they suddenly stopped and there was a baby on the doorstep. A beautiful, brown haired baby with eyes larger than a full moon and more grey than an overcast sky before a storm. His name was James Buchanan Barnes and he was from one of the many faceless women that entered his home in the middle of the night and left with a little bit of his father who was growing more and more bitter as time went on. Maria was hurt, so hurt but she remained strong and loyal and took the baby, raising him like he was her own. He remembered when Maria finally got pregnant again and suddenly, things began to change. There were no longer girls fighting their way into his house. For once, everything seemed to look up. Smiles were upon faces, not fake, plastic smiles for the media, but real, hopeful smiles, like things were about to get better. Then a baby was born, cheeky straight from birth, happy and positive and full of optimism. He was hope in the form of a brown haired, golden brown eyed baby named Antonio Eduardo Stark, a golden ray of sunshine in their very dark world. Things were getting better when it happened, the attack Hydra sent on their home. It ruined everything that was starting to be rebuilt. Now there was no Howard, no Maria and no Arno. Maybe there was no James and Antonio either. Who knew. All he knew was that he was in a padded cell in the middle of some institute, wearing a straight jacket. He simply wanted out but obviously, whoever was keeping him there didn't want him to leave. They wanted him to suffer through the pain of gut wrenching loss in a cell, alone with no way out whatsoever. He lay back down in the middle of the padded floor, his eyes empty, just like the hole where his soul used to be.    
  
There was now no Steve.   
  
  
....   
  
  
Sam watched, heartbroken as his lifelong friend lay on his back in a padded cell with his hands bound. The look of emptiness in Steve's eyes was the worst part. Even if he didn't physically show emotions all that often before this mess happened, his eyes were always the windows to his soul, showing everything he felt in the blink. Now, there was nothing behind those glassy eyes, it was as if he was just lost in his memories, the horrific memories of what he'd been through the last six months he had been away. Two months in the Hydra base, four months in hospital due to his horrendous injuries that still had Sam up all night, wondering how the fuck Steve made it out of there alive. Though he was physically in one piece, his mentality was askew. He was so damaged and pumped up on drugs that he couldn't even remember his own name. The hospital did all they could but the high levels of illegal drugs in Steve's system caused him to crash, his body failing and shutting down. The withdrawal was unreal and had almost killed Steve multiple times. The drug they used to keep Steve subdued had never been seen before so when the hospital administered sedatives to ease him out of the addiction but it backfired and literally killed Steve. After reviving him, they were forced to leave him recover for himself. It was extremely risky but it worked. Even after that, the trauma scrambled his brain and he couldn't differentiate between nightmares and reality. They had to tie him down in the end to put an end to his self harm. Sam had seen the damage up close and it made him want to vomit. Deep, jagged, ugly and bloody scrapes were carved into his sides over his ribcage. He witnessed his best friend screaming until his voice was literally gone while gouging his side's out. Steve cried for his lost family members and no matter what Sam tried to tell him, he still remained positive that he'd killed his baby brothers who were in fact safe and sound in Clint's home with his little sister, Natasha.   
  
Sam was broken from his thoughts when a tiny, cold hand tugged his finger. He looked down and saw he was staring into the golden brown eyes of little Tony and he suddenly felt the urge to cry for this tiny four year old boy who'd lost so much and hadn't even lived an eighth of his life yet.   
  
“Hey, lil' buddy, what's goin' on?” Sam asked in English (although he knew the little boy didn't understand a word of it) as he picked up the small boy    
  
Tony simply placed his head on Sam's shoulder and promptly fell asleep, tiny hands still tightly curled into Sam's shirt, breath hitching in his slumber. Sam let out a shaky breath and let his hands smooth over the boy's brunette curls. He sat down in one of the uncomfortable chairs, gently bouncing the lightly sleeping boy, trying to soothe the soft little sobs he was unconsciously letting out. They sat in silence for a while before another small hand drew him back to reality. He looked down to find Steve's other little brother gazing up at him with huge, grey, teary eyes.   
  
“You can't sleep either, rice crispy?” He asked as he ran a soft hand over Bucky's head.   
  
The little boy let out a pained sound and fell against Sam's knee, sobs racking his whole body.   
  
“I want Stevie back! I want him back! I need him!” Bucky wailed.   
  
Sam scooped him into his arms also and rocked him, trying to soothe the hyperventilating little boy.   
  
“He's right there, lovely, see? He's just right there.” Sam managed to whisper, barely holding back from sobbing himself.   
  
“That's not my Stevie! That's not him! He's not like that! My Stevie smiles my Stevie is alive.”   
  
Those words punched Sam right in heart and he could almost feel his breath leave him.   
  
“What do you mean, Honey? Steve is alive.”   
  
Buck stared up at him with those clear grey eyes.   
  
“Then why are his eyes dead?”   
  
Sam's blood ran cold.   
  
“Sorry but can you hold baby for a second please? I need to...” Sam deposited tiny, sleeping Tony into his brothers arms and walked out of the corridor to the main seating area where he found Clint holding a sleeping little Natasha in his arms.   
  
“What's wrong, bro?” Clint asked instantly, the look on Sam's face filled his chest with worry.   
  
“Bucky said something and I think he was right, way too right.” Sam sighed as he ran a hand over his hair.   
  
“What did he say? You seem pretty rattled.” Clint asked as he switched Natasha onto his other hip.   
  
“He said that Steve is dead. His eyes are dead so he's dead. The kid realised that Steve's been through so much trauma that it might have destroyed him. That's what I feared this whole time but I refused to see it but I looked into his eyes and he just looks so empty. I think Buck was right, Steve's gone.”   
  
“Don't say that! We can help him! We can bring him back mentally and physically, he just needs a little help, that's all.” Clint tried to reassure, putting a soft hand onto Sam's shoulder.   
  
“No! A "little help" won't fucking cut it! I saw what happened to him with my own two eyes! Even if he was there for a day he wouldn't fully recover. He was there for two whole months with the rotting corpses of dad and brother, Clint, months! The monster was still fucking him till the second I shot him in the back when I took Steve out of that monstrosity of a place. Steve called out for him, can you believe that? He called out for that ass who'd been raping him for months because he was the only one there to keep him company. That is sick. Steve will never be the same because that pig broke him down systematically and relished every second of it. I think that Steve has been destroyed and there's no way we can fix him up again.”   
  
A tear rolled down Clint's face as the realisation washed over him. They really couldn't fix someone who was so broken.   
  
Only Steve could fix himself.   
  
He probably didn't want to.

  
  
  
  


 

**_Story Segments_ **

  
**  
_Steve drunk drives_ **

He needed this. He just needed to get away, to just drive. Although he couldn't see through his tears, he just had to leave that house, full of ghosts, unfinished conversations. That house of broken promises and lies. He wanted to be free, to fly, to feel the wind through his hair one last time because he couldn't, just couldn't do it anymore, couldn't. He knew it was selfish but I couldn't bare to be here.   
  
He raced around a left bend, narrowly missing the rocky cliff face, navigating himself purely by muscle memory. He turned up the music in his car and pressed the accelerator harder, talking another swig of whatever drink that he took with him after punching a wall for ten minutes straight. The liquid burned his throat and stomach so he knew it was alcoholic. He shouldn't be drink driving but fuck it, he didn't really give a shit anymore. He just wanted to forget the feeling of hands all  over his body.   
  
Steve swung his car into the layby, sending dust in every direction. He all but kicked the door open and took his bottle with him. He kicked the door closed and swore when he slammed the bottle in the door. He yelled and threw the remaining part of the bottle off the edge. He ran both hands through his hair then tugged hard. Vicious was the scream that tore from his throat, it echoed around him, the echo from the mountains bounced back and screamed at him, challenging him to a dual.   
  
“Where were you? When I needed you most? Where were you when he fucked me up? When he was about to shoot? Both FUCKING TIMES? You BASTARD! You're meant to answer my prayers, to protect me, to protect us but where were you? WHERE ARE YOU FOR FUCK SAKE?”   
  
Another ear rending scream thundered across the cliffs and valleys sending birds every which way.   
  
“Can you hear me? I need you, just once,” he produced a gun, “one bullet, one chance. If you really care you will let me die.”   
  
He pulled the trigger.   
  
Nothing happened.   
  
_ Nothing happened. _   
  
**_Nothing happened._ **   
  
He threw the gun over the cliff and walked back to his car. He saluted God with his favourite finger then tore off down the cliff side again.   
  


 

 

 

  
**_Steve has a panic attack_ **

  
It's that feeling again, like when he fell into that iced over lake as a child. The feeling of his very breath being violently sucked out of his body, the fear of death as the water froze over him, trapping him, like a mosquito in amber. The way his heart pounded, the way all his thoughts crashed to a halt and everything around him ground to a stop. That feeling of absolute anxiety and terror as he found no way out.   
  
I can't breathe, I can't breathe.   
  
That was all he could think, repeating the same words over and over again in his head, a deadly mantra, a symphony of death replaying and there was no sign of stopping.   
  
He sat bolt upright in his bed and screamed breathlessly, cold sweat dripping from his body. Until Bucky and Sam burst into his room, he was not aware that he was screaming still.   
  
“Steve, calm down, you're alright, I got you.” Bucky whispered, gently kneeling on the bed beside him and holding out his arms.   
  
“Can't... I can't... breath!” He cried, the cry that ripped from his throat burnt and all but ripped his throat apart.   
  
“Of course you can breath silly, if you can talk, then you can breath,” Bucky whispered taking Steve's hands in his own and stroking his thumbs over the backs of sweaty, shaking hands.   
  
Bucky turned to Sam with a grim look on his face, “Can you get his asthma pump please, he left it downstairs on the dining table.”   
  
Sam nodded and turned to walk away then stopped to ask him if he needed anything else.   
  
“A glass of water and a few tablets please, Sam, if you don't mind.”   
  
Sam nodded once again then left the room.   
  
“Okay Steve, we're going to sort out your breathing now, I'll count to four and you try to match my pace and you'll be alright in no time.”   
  
One,    
  
He sucked a painful breath in.   
  
Two,   
  
He choked.   
  
Three,   
  
He couldn't breathe again.   
  
Four,   
  
He started to panic.   
  
“It's okay, we'll get there, all you have to be is relax, close your eyes and breath, that's it.”   
  
Steve drew in a more calm breath and rested his head against Bucky's shoulder. He started to count once more and he managed to eventually match his pace.   
  
“Jamie?” A tiny child's voice came from the door.   
  
Bucky looked around to see his smallest brother standing in the doorway. The poor six year old looked terrified to see his oldest brother in that state of fear and vulnerability.   
  
“Go back to bed, baby, it's very late.”   
  
“But Stevie's hurting!”   
  
“Stevie will be fine, he's just a bit sad.”   
  
“I wanna make Stevie smile again, it hurts me when Stevie cries.” The small boy replied.   
  
“Tonio, Stevie wants to be alone right now.”   
  
Tony totally ignored his brother and toddled over to the bed then dragged himself up onto Steve's lap. Bucky tried to take him away but Steve stopped him.   
  
“It's OK, he can stay.” Steve panted, trying to steady his breathing to prevent his baby brother from getting scared.   
  
The small boy shook his head and gently placed both his tiny palms against his brother's stubbled, sweaty cheeks. Blue met golden brown, for a moment, Steve couldn't breathe.   
  
“I don't want to see you hurting, Stevie, I know you miss them, I miss them too but they will always be with you, just like what Arno said. He said that he'd be with us forever, in here!” The small boy said, placing a tiny hand over his brother's heart.   
  
Steve smiled sheepishly and wiped away his tears.   
  
“Sorry for waking you, baby; thank you, I feel a lot better now.” He whispered, giving Tony an Eskimo kiss, causing the small child to giggle and cover his nose.   
  
“Ti voglio bene,” Tony whispered as he wrapped both his little arms around his big brother's neck.   
  
“I love you too, baby brother.” Steve replied as he returned the hug. 

 

 

 

  
**  
_A Fight between brothers_ **

“You're so selfish!”  
  
“Well, you're the needy little ass who demands shit from everyone twenty four seven, you can't exactly blame me for getting fucking fed up!”  
  
“Don't swear at me! You literally respect no one, it's always about you and what you think is best and most convenient for you! I wish I had a brother who actually gave a shit!”  
  
“I'd trade you in the blink of an eye if I could you little cu-”  
  
 **BAM**  
  
A huge, thickly veined fist slammed into the table between the arguing brothers and both of their hearts temporarily stopped and they held their breath in fear. Their oldest brother who had apparently awoken from his midday nap was not happy and that always spelled trouble.  
  
“I heard you little assholes arguing from my bed. I'd be less angry if I didn't hear whatever the fuck you were shouting about.“ His steely blue eyes flicked from one to the other. He took a deep drag from his cigarette and rested a hip against the table.  
  
Bucky and Tony gulped.  
  
“What did I say about arguing over petty shit? I told you that if it isn't life or death, I don't want to hear it. You're both ungrateful, taking for granted what you have. You want to trade each other in for a better brother? Well guess what, that is not a fucking option! You are both too young and fucking stupid to value each other and what you fucking have, even if it is less than what other people have. You don't understand what it's like to have all you know and love ripped out from under your feet, you don't understand what it feels like to lose everything and everyone you love in a matter of days, you don't know what it's like to lose your sanity due to loss and pain. You will never understand that! You better fucking cherish ever godforsaken second you have with each other because one of these fucking days it will be gone and you won't be able to do shit about it. You won't get to say sorry or relive all the seconds you had together. You shut the fuck up and be grateful for what you have.”  
  
Bucky and Tony glanced at each other briefly the stared back at the floor, Bucky with his fists clenched and Tony with tears brimming in his eyes. Before Tony could stop himself, a tear fell from his eye and he let out an involuntary sniffle.  
  
“Shut up, save the tears for the pillow. Nothing I said was untrue therefore, you need to suck it up.” Steve said harshly to his youngest brother who just seemed to shrink in on himself and cry more at his brother's harsh words.  
  
“That was unnecessary, wasn't it! He's just fourteen, there is literally no reason for you to be such an asshole! And anyway, this argument had nothing to do with you so you can piss off and leave us alone!” Bucky retorted, wrapping an arm around young Tony who was now almost sobbing.  
  
“You want someone to coddle you? You want special treatment? You want me to treat you like a fucking adult? You earn it. You grow the fuck up, wise the fuck up and you earn my respect because I refuse to warrant fucking childish and ungrateful behaviour. Look at me!” Steve grabbed Tony's thin wrist and dragged him closer, ignoring the boys small cry of fear and rapid downpour of tears. “You need to grow up. You are fourteen years old. You cannot be crying over someone telling you how to become a better version of yourself!”  
  
Tony looked over at Bucky with absolute fear in his golden brown eyes and Bucky felt his heart stop. Steve grabbed Tony's face in right hand and twisted the younger boys face back towards him.  
  
“Look at me.”  
  
Tony felt his breath stutter in his chest but he really did look into Steve's eyes and instantly, all the fear washed away and his body relaxed. Steve wasn't angry, he was sad. He was sad and still grieving and this situation had filled him with the fear that his two younger brothers would face the same situation he did eleven years ago.  
  
“You need to be stronger, Tony. You can't let a few harsh words break you. There are people, no, monsters in this world who will use your soft heart against you and cause you to lose who you are. You need to be stronger so that will never happen to you, that can never happen to you. I won't always be here to protect you and neither will Bucky. You need to be able to fend for yourself.” Steve's voice had softened and he found himself wiping away Tony's tears.  
  
Steve straightened and turned to Bucky, his mask back firmly in place.   
  
“You should know, James. You should remember. Just remember how suddenly things can change and how quickly things can disappear. Never, ever let this happen again because you will learn to regret it.” Steve glared at both the boys then turned away and walked back to his room, taking a deep drag of his cigarette before he vanished from sight.  


 

 

  
  
**_Russian Roulette_ **

What the hell? Where is he?” Sam whispered angrily to Steve.   
  
“Fury said that he'd meet us here in twenty minutes, that was twenty five minutes ago.” Steve replied peevishly.   
  
“Well, let us just say that dear Mr Fury is... preoccupied.” Came a voice directly behind Tony who was standing by the entrance.   
  
Tony felt a strong arm wrap around his waist and a gun being held at his head. Steve, Sam and Clint look as if they had seen a ghost. The others were restrained by men in masks whereas Tony was still held firm by the man behind me.   
  
“No,” Steve whispered, “you're dead! You were killed sixteen years ago!”   
  
“As much as I believed in the extraordinary, I am not a ghost my dearest, Steven. You know why I'm here,” Red skull sneered, tightening his grip on a terrified Tony, “I've got a score to settle, Rogers, and I believe you know why I want justice.”   
  
He cocked the gun and Tony tensed.   
  
“Tony!” Bucky cried, reaching out to Tony.   
  
“Stop right there, or this beauty dies.” Skull singsonged, forcing the gun harder into the side of Tony's head.   
  
Tony squirmed in his arms, trying hard to escape. Skull tapped the gun on Tony's head and tutted at Steve and Bucky who were trying hard to get to their terrified little brother.   
  
"I see something I can play with here." Skull mused.   
  
He moved the gun down to Tony's cheek, than in a flash, hit him hard across the jaw with the nozzle of the gun, drawing blood. Tony cried out in pain and most of the team went crazy.   
  
"My point proven. I want to play a game Rogers, a very fun game that only includes you, me and your two darling brothers."   
  
"Keep away from them, Skull. You want me, leave them out of it, they have no history with you." Steve growled.   
  
"Well, Steven, if you're not careful, they will never have a future." Skull sneered. "Put those scum over there and tie these two to chairs but tie the youngest to the ring. You're lucky I don't have him bent over or on his knees like what I did to you all those years ago."   
  
Tony was snatched out of the reach of Skull and stood up in the middle of the room. His weapons, shirt and vest were ripped off, leaving him bare chested. Then tight rough twine was twisted around his wrists then his arms were forced over his head and connected to a metal ring that was attached to a chain. Tony looked to his left and right to see that everyone else was being manhandled in the same grotesque way. Steve and Bucky were tied to chairs sitting side by side facing Tony. The rest of the team were tied up then thrown into a simple cage in the corner of the room, the door locked behind them.   
  
"Here is how this game works my lovelies, I hurt him," Skull said, pointing to Tony with his gun. "And if he screams out, I shoot one of his brothers."   
  
Skull turned to Tony and smiled slyly.   
  
"My sweet one, their lives are now in your hands."   
  
Tony spat in his face and glared at him. Skull's grin turned into a twisted smirk that showed up the blackness of his soul.   
  
"Bring the whip." Skull ordered, all superficial sweetness gone.   
  
Steve and Bucky looked to Tony with wide eyes, full of fear. Tony tried to keep his expression neutral but it was hard when a mad man cracking a whip in front of him and both his brothers' lives were in his hands. Skull raised the whip then brought it down across Tony's back, full force. It hurt more than he thought it would but it didn't make him scream. Skull brought down the whip again and again, hitting him in different places. After fifteen, he lost count. He was trying too hard to stop himself from crying out to count how many lashes he had suffered. Skull brought down the whip on a part that had been whipped about nine times already and Tony barely contained and scream. He felt blood drain down his back and seep into the waistband of his trousers.   
  
"Well well, the youngling has lasted longer than I expected. Give me the knife. I think he has had enough lashes, for now anyway."   
  
Skull had a mad evil gleam in his eyes when he took a look at all his handy work littered over Tony's back and stomach.   
  
"What a beautiful face you have dear one. Oh well. Such a shame I'm going to have to...” Skull waved his knife around vaguely.   
  
Skull raised the knife to Tony's left cheek and deeply and slowly sliced into it. He hissed and tried to turn his face the other way but he held him firm.   
  
"You better cooperate if you want to keep your nose." He sneered.   
  
Tony kept still as Skull carved long, hard lines into his face. He cut the Red Skull symbol into his neck.   
  
"Now you'll remember this day forever." He whispered in Tony's ear.   
  
Skull cut Tony all over his body and it was excruciating. Tears were running down his face, stinging the cuts and gashes that were bleeding lazily. Skull lost his patience and stabbed Tony in the shoulder, causing him to half cry out.   
  
"That's a good boy, scream for me. Make the pain end. If you just scream, I'll stop and you'll only lose one of your brothers. It's not that bad, baby boy, just scream." He whispered, caressing Tony's face with the tip of his bloody knife.   
  
"No." Tony whispered shakily, choking on the air around him, as if it was thick and repulsive.   
  
Skull curled his lip viciously then plunged his knife into Tony's side, twisted it harshly then ripping it out, leaving him breathless. Tony gagged in pain felt too weak to even cry out at that stage.   
  
"Take him down! I'm bored of this game. Take that lot out and sit them in a circle, hands and feet tied." Skull ordered, waving his knife around at the others.   
  
The Hydra soldiers took Tony down and tied him up with the rest of the team then placed them on chairs in a circle. Skull stepped into the centre, grinning like a maniac.   
  
"This is how it works. We are going to play my favorite game! Russian roulette but, there is a twist. I get to shoot because I haven't gotten to kill anyone in such a long time and that isn't fair, is it my cherub?" Skull said, looking at Tony one again with a twisted smirk on his ugly scared, tattooed face. "So! Without further ado, let us begin!"   
  
Skull was handed a gun with one round in it. He spun the cylinder then slotted it back into the gun. He turned to Steve with a leering smirk then caressed his face with the gun.   
  
“Look how much bigger you've gotten, my love! And so much more handsome! You age like fine wine, my dear. Maybe I will leave you alone like the old times so you can watch all you love die and then I'll fuck you senseless and listen to you moan like a whore and beg me to go harder in your loose, whore ass.”   
  
Skull tucked his hand down the front of Steve's trousers, laughing maniacally at the shouts and threats of his teammates. He looked down at Steve once again and smiled wickedly at the younger man's face, tears filling his eyes, face darkening in shame. Once Skull had enough of the shouting and threats, he orders silence or he'd end the "game" and kill Steve anyway. Skull pointed the gun at Steve's head once again. He pulled the trigger without warning. It a blank. Skull grinned and went around the circle, pulling the cylinder out and spinning it again for "extra tension". He was in front of Tony now, the gun was resting on his forehead. Tony held his breath. Skull pulled the trigger and Tony was still there, still whole and alive. Next was Bucky. He was the next in line. Skull pulled the trigger once again and Bucky was untouched. The "game" continued for one more round then it happened. Skull pointed the gun at Tony's head for the second time and this time, he was not convinced he could cheat death but once again, it was a blank. It was Bucky's turn again but this time, instead of staring at the floor, he looked up at Steve and mouthed something at him, making Steve tear up and shake his head slightly. Bucky turned to Tony and mouthed "I love you." Tony mouthed it back but added that he'd be alright but Bucky just smiled, tears running down his face.   
  
"No." Tony whispered as he closed his eyes.   
  
Skull pulled the trigger.   
  
It wasn't blank.   
  
Blood covered Tony's face, the walls and the floor.   
  
He screamed.   
  
It was over.   
  
James was dead.

 

  
  
**  
_Breaking Point_ **

“Bucky, please come back, I know you're just pretending again, everything is OK, I promise you!” Tony laughed hysterically, tears drenching his whole face.   
  
The poor boy was a shaking mess, covered in his brother's blood and his own blood. He shakily gathered his brother's semi destroyed body and hugged it to his chest.   
  
“Wake up, Bucky, wake up, please.” He sobbed.   
  
Sam made his way over to the boy and tried to separate him from his brother's corps. Tony screamed at Sam and hit him, punched and scratched at his face.   
  
“Tones, he can't come back, he's dead.”   
  
“No! He's just sleeping, look! Wake up Bucky, YOU BASTARD WAKE UP! Stop being a selfish mother fucker and wake up!”   
  
It took Sam, Clint and Rhodey to drag Tony from his decapitated, blood drenched brother. Steve ran to his baby brother once he was untied and cradled the screaming child to his chest. This was him sixteen years ago when he lost the other half of his soul. He stroked Tony's hair shakily while trying to keep a panic attack at bay, the fragments of muscle tissue, shattered bone, brain matter and bloody brown hair that covered his brother's face all but knocked the air from his lungs.   
  
“It's alright, Red Skull is dead, he can't hurt you anymore, he can't touch you, he will never hurt you.”   
  
“But, Stevie, he's already hurt me,” Tony sobbed, shakily patting his own chest over his heart, “right here, and It won't get better till Bucky wakes up.”   
  
Steve looked up and drew in frantic breaths of air, azure blue eyes searching for help, an escape. He's gaze caught Sam's and he silently begged for help, a way out before he fell apart entirely but no help came. Steve drew back from Tony and wiped the blood and tears from his face while cupping his face at the same time.   
  
“Baby, look at me, look at me,” blue met golden brown and for a moment Steve couldn't breath, “Bucky is gone, baby, he's gone to heaven and he isn't coming back, he's with Mama, Papa, Grandpa and Arno now, he's happy with them.” Steve said then kissed his brother's face.   
  
“Don't tell me that! Don't tell me that he's with them because I want him here with me!  Why did he leave us? He's so fucking selfish, I hate him!”   
  
“No you don't, I don't either but don't worry, we'll see him again one day.” Steve whispered, stroking Tony's curly hair.   
  
That statement made Tony cry harder.   
  
“Don't leave me, Stevie, you can't leave me here alone!”   
  
“I'm not going anywhere without my baby brother, I promise you.” Steve whispered, trying to hide the fact from Tony that he was currently bleeding out from his wounds.   
  
Tony cried until he ran out of strength to keep drawing is breaths. He slumped lifelessly against Steve's shoulder.   
  


 

  
  
**_Tony's speech at Bucky's funeral_ **

“I'm not going to tell you how much of and amazing person he was because you don't know. I'm not going to tell you how much he meant to me because you'll never understand. I don't want anyone to tell me that he's in a better place because he's not, he isn't with me and Steve so wherever he is can't be better. I don't want you to tell me that he's looking down at me from heaven and don't tell me that he'd be proud because I want him to be looking at me right here, right now. I want him to tell me he's proud of me himself. I want to hold him in my arms and make sure he's safe with me forever. Don't you dare tell me that I should celebrate his life. His life was too short, his life was torn away before he did everything he wanted to do so I will not celebrate. I will cry and scream and miss him my entire life because he was apart of me and now that part of me that was him is dead and it's never coming back and it hurts, so bad. I want him back and no one will ever understand unless they've been through exactly the same thing. I'm not going to say all the positive things that you say at a funeral because I don't want to be positive and I'm a selfish bastard so I don't want anyone else to feel happiness because it reminds me of what once was me and my brother. I'm angry and depressed and falling to pieces so I won't tell you a happy story. I'll give you a little advice though, if you had someone that you love as much as I loved him, you hold them dear, you keep them safe, you cherish them for every moment that you both exist because you never know when your time with them is over. Tell them that you love them every day, every time you see them. It doesn't matter how annoying they think it is or you think you're being because when they're gone, you'll have no regrets. You will know that you let them know they meant the world to you and that no one in this whole world will ever equal the way you felt about them. I loved him, I really loved him, more than words can describe.”

 

 

  
  
**_Finale_ **

Steve walked behind Tony into Bucky's old room, hands covering Tony's eyes. He nudged the door open with his foot and walked them into the middle of the room. Steve removed his hands from over Tony's eyes and stepped beside him.   
  
“You can open your eyes now,” Steve whispered.   
  
Tony opened his eyes and instantly covered his mouth in shock, tears rolling down his face. The wall had a gigantic painting of the four brothers, Steve and Tony back to back with their eyes open, Arno below their shoulder level with his head tilted down and his eyes closed. Bucky was behind all of them, above Steve and Tony's shoulder level and his head was looking to the left, his brown hair blowing in the wind and his eyes were also shut. The background of the painting was a setting sun and in in the foreground of the picture were the crimson words, "Keep careful watch of my brothers souls". Bucky's bed was placed under the painting and a huge brown bear was sat on it, wearing Bucky's favourite green knitted jumper and his and Arno's dog tags. On the bedside tables were photographs of Bucky as a child, Arno holding a sleeping baby Bucky, the family before the assassination, all the brothers before the assassination, a picture of Bucky on their recent trip to Coney Island and the three brothers just a few weeks before the mission, hugging each other. Tony turned back to Steve, with his hand over his mouth still.   
  
“You made all this, by yourself?” Tony gasped tearfully.   
  
“Yeah, in memory of them.”   
  
Tony flung himself into Steve's arms and sobbed harder than he had ever done in his life. Steve joined him in morning for their lost siblings and parents. It hurt so much, much more than anything else but one day, that pain would give way to memory.


	9. Rogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The insipid scent of medicine. White plastered walls and white tiled floors. Shuttered windows and bolted doors. The slow, cold voice repeating phrases over and over again. The pat of bare soft feet and the sound of breathing is the only sound heard. A soft hiss, a gentle sob.
> 
>  
> 
> The scent of poison used to subdue and control. The white blank walls and floors making certain no memories have a chance returning. Shuttered windows and bolted doors to prevent escape. The slow, slimy, lying voice whispered endless lies. The pat of feet that long to feel freedom, to feel the grass, the dirt, the water, anything but cold tiled floors. A soundless scream of horror, a heart wrenching wail.
> 
> Poison.
> 
> Blank.
> 
> Prison.
> 
> Lies.
> 
> Slaves.
> 
> A cry to be free.
> 
> It goes on and on and on. Freedom is not an option, freedom will never be an option. It will always be slavery, lies and white.
> 
> Until Z.

The insipid scent of medicine. White plastered walls and white tiled floors. Shuttered windows and bolted doors. The slow, cold voice repeating phrases over and over again. The pat of bare soft feet and the sound of breathing is the only sound heard. A soft hiss, a gentle sob.

  
The scent of poison used to subdue and control. The white blank walls and floors making certain no memories have a chance returning. Shuttered windows and bolted doors to prevent escape. The slow, slimy, lying voice whispered endless lies. The pat of feet that long to feel freedom, to feel the grass, the dirt, the water, anything but cold tiled floors. A soundless scream of horror, a heart wrenching wail.   
  
Poison.   
  
Blank.   
  
Prison.   
  
Lies.   
  
Slaves.   
  
A cry to be free.   
  
It goes on and on and on. Freedom is not an option, freedom will never be an option. It will always be slavery, lies and white.   
  
Until Z.

 

  
.....  
  
  
Z didn't like it there but he couldn't remember why. The man in black and the man with a mask dressed in red always touched him and it made him cry. He didn't want to be there and when he asked to leave they would always say, in due time. He didn't understand. They said he was happy and safe there and if he ever left, he would get stolen and beaten more than when he was bad and had to be punished. That was another thing, he always got punished but he didn't know what for. He was told to sit still on the bed and he did just that. He was told to lie on the bed and open his legs. He followed their orders exactly but they still hit him with that horrible thing with too many hard bits on it and it made his back bleed. It was never happy, no one ever smiled and when they did it was that dirty horrible smile they would give before hitting him with that silly sharp rope.  
  
Then Z started having these nightmares about a beautiful boy with brown hair and beautiful eyes, alternating between honey brown and gold. The poor little boy was screaming and running away from men dressed in black with their faces covered. The he was bleeding everywhere and he fell because his leg was damaged. The men caught up, grabbed him and pinned him to the floor. Though the he was beaten and laying on the floor, he still fought, as if his life depended on it. One man had a syringe and stabbed the boy's in the throat with it. He choked slowly and stopped fighting.  He let his eyes flutter shut and he remembered no more. Z always woke up before he found out what happened next to that beautiful boy. The dream was always the same and it always finished at the same point.  
  
After a while, Z started to change. He would often get violently sick after each pill or injection. Memories would start breaking through and he would become more alert. He would no longer just lay there and obey every word the one dressed in black and the one dressed in red uttered. He would fight back. He became increasingly violent and even when they changed his medicine, it still had no effect on him. They started beating him into submission in order to bed him. They chained him to walls to prevent his escape. But still, he found some way to escape. He had never gotten further than the double doors that led to the courtyard. He was going crazy they told him, all the dreams and memories were all a result of madness. He knew they were lying. They only wanted to be between his legs and they didn't care if they hurt him. They only cared for their own sick, perverted pleasure.  
  
Due to his constant fight and and urge for freedom, the man in red called him Rouge. He was an omega who tried to beat the system. The man in red said he had gone rouge. He hated it when  the man in red called him that. It was if he'd done something wrong. He only wanted to be free, was that such a crime?  
  
Z pondered on these thoughts while he waited in line for the last injection of the day. It was one of three jabs they had in a day. The first was before breakfast at 8:00, the second was before lunch at 12:00 and the last was before dinner at 6:00. He usually let them inject him with that strange bright blue liquid because it never affected him but this time, he had a plan. He was determined that he had to leave this place. He honestly couldn't take the abuse any longer. The forceful touches, the lustful kisses, the beatings, he just had to make it stop. He was going to show the man in red what the word rouge really meant.  
  
He kept walking forwards towards the desk and he listened to the sound of the beta repeat the same words to each passing omega.  
  
“You're going to be fine now. Next please.” Was what he said as he stroked the arm of the freshly drugged omega.  
  
Forty was being injected now. Z was sorry he had to leave that girl. Z and Forty had a very close bond and Z remembered the first day Forty was put in the institute. Forty screamed and pounded on the doors, screaming that she wanted to be let out and she wanted to see her baby. She had fallen to the ground and burst into tears and weakly punched the door. Z had gone to Forty and comforted her, helped her through the most difficult of days until the poison made Forty forget about her old life and forget about her baby. He would miss the one person who kept him sane and kept him hanging on throughout his life in the institute.  
  
Perhaps he'd come back for her.  
  
The beta stroked Forty's arm and whispered the same lies then called out for the next in line. After this one there was only one more boy left before Z. It was the same again.  
  
"Hello,"  
  
A wipe of the arm.  
  
"How was your day?"  
  
Switch the syringe.  
  
"You'll feel better after this, promise!"  
  
The stinging bite of the cold needle sliding into the arm.

  
“You're going to be fine now. Next.”   
  
Z was after this boy, he went over the plan one last time.   
  
Doom giver went over his lies again then,   
  
“Next,” Doom giver said with his slimy, cold, superficial sweetness, “Hello, sweetie,”   
  
“Hello to you too, bitch.” Z sneered then grabbed the syringe and stabbed Doom bringer in the throat with it. He heard the sound of the brainwashed patients cries of shock and yells from the beta guards.   
  
Z kicked the now unconscious Doom bringer from his white metal stool, picked up the stool then ran with it, taking out beta guards as he went. Z artfully ducked and dodged through his chasers, getting further and further away from them with every step. The institute was highly guarded but since no one was expecting a sedated patient to come back to their senses and plan out a full scale escape, the guards were few and far between, only one or two at a door. After taking out an beta who was armed with a gun that actually contained bullets and not just a simple taser, Z really had more of a chance to escape from this hell hole and this time, he was going to get out, he would kill to be rid of that place. Z ran to a dead end. His path was blocked off by a wall of betas and they were not letting him through.   
  
“It's over Z, just put down the weapon and hold your arms over your head, no one has to get hurt.” The beta in the middle explained slowly.   
  
Z glared at them and said nothing. He simply raised his gun and aimed shakily, just like he had seen the betas do it when he watched them through the hole in the shutter.   
  
“Z, put down the gun, be a good omega.”   
  
“No!” Z spat then started shooting in a sweeping pattern as he ran forward.   
  
He felt a bullet make contact with his shoulder and he cried out in pain but pushed on. He ran at the middle beta who had raised his arms, thinking Z was going to tackle him. Z dropped to the ground and slid through the startled beta's legs, twisted around and came up to his knees. He let loose another bullet then turned to run again, not even checking if he had killed that stupid beta.   
  
Run, RUN, RUN!   
  
Those were the only thought going through his head.   
  
Just a left, straight down the longest corridor, left through the double doors, down the stairs, through the last corridor, into the big reception. Remember the code, 17.5.63. Run into the courtyard. Do not go left this time because there is a door that leads straight into the beta quarters and they will run out again and recapture you. Go to the walk in gate, slide through the gap, you'll probably fit now. I don't know what to do after that point, I've never made it that far.   
  
Z wasn't afraid. He could hear the sirens, the lock down order but he was always too quick to end up getting locked in. What he was afraid of was what was out there. Were there more people like the ones like in the institute? Were they going to rape him then kill him and make sure no one would ever find him again like what the man in red had told him? Would they accept him? Would they treat him like any other omega? What did they do to young omegas like himself? What-   
  
Z squeezed through the gate and temporary freedom was staring his in the face. He hesitated. Should he really do it? Should he really leave all what he remembered behind? Was the institute really such a bad place?   
  
Yes it was.   
  
Z ran, ignored all the orders, bullet being shot at his limbs, ran and never looked back.   
  
  
....   
  
  
Z found a shallow pit that was covered with a hollow log. Z was tired and bleeding out from his shoulder. He had taken three bullets to his right shoulder and he knew he had to go back to the institute or he'd die out in the cold. Even worse was that the pit he was curled up in was filling up with rain water and if he didn't come out soon, he would drown. Z didn't know what to do, he hadn't thought so far ahead in his plan to escape. All he had thought about was getting out of the building, getting out of the grounds, then getting into the forest and with the cover of trees, he would be at an advantage. Now that he had thought about it, his escape had been way too easy. He knew if they had really wanted to keep him in the institute, they would have tried harder just like all the other times he had tried to escape. The man in black had a plan up his sleeve, Z just knew it.   
  
Z was falling asleep when he heard the sound of shouting and guns. Z panicked and rammed himself into the back wall of the ditch, trying his hardest not to be seen. Lights were flashing, screams of pain and anger could be heard. One voice stood out from the others, It was a deep and had an air of authority about it. Z also could hear the rough voice of the man in black yelling orders.   
  
So Z hadn't really escaped.   
  
“The omega belongs to us!” The man in black yelled.   
  
Z crawled forward and peered over the edge of the hole.   
  
He saw silhouettes of seven armed people and a truck, slightly illuminated by the light of the moon. Standing across from them were about twelve other people, armed with and guns.    
  
“You have no right to imprison innocent children and claim them as your own!” The male standing at the front of the group of seven people yelled back with twice the venom.   
  
“You fools have no idea how valuable and rare an omega like him is. It is vital that we preserve and protect such a beautiful rare flower.” The man in black sneered.   
  
“Bull shit, you're imprisoning him as a sex slave just so he can bare your precious pure blood omega babies. You're denying an innocent child his freedom for your pleasure.” The man in the front shouted back.   
  
“You ass holes took two of my most prized possessions and you are not taking the third.”   
  
When the man in black uttered those words, the group of six people tightened around the seventh guy in the middle and formed a defensive stance.   
  
“Keep the fuck away from them.”   
  
A gun was raised.   
  
Then fired.   
  
Then all hell broke loose.   
  
Z dropped down and coward in the back of the back of the pit. He covered his ears and screwed his eyes shut but he could still hear the gunshots and screaming of shot men. It was horrible and it was all his fault. If he didn't try to escape that God awful place, no one would have gotten hurt for his sake. It wasn't the betas and alphas he cared so much for but the other men who were risking their lives for him, someone who they didn't know.   
  
The noise was pitching in and out now and again, Z wasn't sure if it was because the fight was dying down or if he was dying. He could now feel the breath clawing at his throat and every drop of blood leave his body and splash into the muddy ground beneath him.   
  
It was silent now, just the ringing in his ears let him know he was still alive. He could hear the throbbing of his own heart and the padding of someone's feet approaching the hole in the ground.   
  
“He's bleeding heavily!” Cried a voice.   
  
Who's bleeding?   
  
“We've got to get him to base, he'll die if we don't get out of here quickly.”   
  
Who were they talking about?   
  
A pair of beautiful crystalline blue eyes swam into his view, so perfect and peaceful and they felt like home.   
  
“You'll be alright now, no one will ever hurt you again, I promise.”   
  
  
He was sure of that.   
  
  
....   
  
  
Alphas and omegas were very different. Alphas were big and strong, they had ruts and they fertilised the omegas' eggs while omegas were small and petite, they had heats and had babies. Betas were more rare and they were just ordinary men and women who hadn't been genetically mutated.   
  
James was the only exception.   
  
He wasn't an alpha or an omega or even a beta.   
  
He was an experiment, the first and only successful alpha and omega combination that wasn't sterile. He could fertilise eggs and have babies himself. He although he was the first of a kind, he was greatly mistreated by the "scientists" in Hydra labs. He was probed, prod, hit, and many more unimaginable evils that had scared him mentally, physically and emotionally. He had his very first heat at the very young age of eleven and to make it worse, it was combined with the rut, making the whole experience more painful than it should have been. He got pregnant at the age fourteen but the baby was killed when they found out it wasn't a crossbreed like him.   
  
When James was sixteen, the lab he lived in was raided by a group of people that called themselves the Avengers who believed in freedom and wanted the creation of alphas and omegas to stop. They rescued him showed him what it was like to live out of captivity. It was difficult at first, living out of captivity, learning how to actually live. He was so used to that white room with the white camera in the corner, the room with the white bed, white bath, white sink, white toilet. The room he was born in. He'd never seen his reflection so when he was rescued and brought back to the safety of the avengers base, he caught a glimpse of his own face in a mirror.   
  
He was stunning.   
  
He had shoulder length brunette waves and icy blue eyes. His face was baby smooth. His entire body was smaller than the average alpha but a little larger than the average omega. He had a narrow waist and narrow hips that made giving birth a very painful affair as he had already experienced. He had slender, pale arms and legs with a fair smatter of freckles all over them. He was protected by the Avengers and he felt safe with them. None of them forced him to do anything he didn't want to do and they made him feel at home, they made him feel like a real person. They made him feel loved.   
  
Seven years later, the Avengers and James himself were back on route to the Hydra containment facility when they had an anonymous tip that they found a new type of omega and they were treating him very badly. The boy was apparently born as a pure blood omega outside the facility but he was captured and sent into conditioning. The strange thing was that he was starting to become resistant to the drugs that were used to wipe his memory. He had attempted escape many a time but he was always forced back into the system.   
  
The team made their way to the Hydra facility, to find the boy and take him back to the real world.   
  
“Hey guys, I think the hard work has already been done for us.” Sam called out through the comms.   
  
“What do you see, Sam?” The team leader, Steve, called out.   
  
“There's a heat signature coming from under that log over there. I think I need to get in closer to see if it's our guy.” Sam replied.   
  
“Alright, Falcon, send in red wing for a closer look just incase it's a trap. I'm pretty they know we're coming.”   
  
“On it,”   
  
Sam sent off red wing and took it close for a look at the ditch beneath the log.   
  
“Cap, I'm getting an image of a young boy, he's bleeding from multiple shot wounds and he looks like he's really out of it.” Sam called out.   
  
“Okay, Sam-”   
  
“Watch out!” James cried as he spotted a man dressed in white with a gun shooting at Steve.   
  
Steve was shot in the shoulder before he could react and he stumbled back with a cry of pain. He quickly recovered and moved behind the truck they had taken for cover and began shooting at the enemy.   
  
“Guys! Make sure no one gets to that hole! If anyone approaches, shoot to kill!” Steve yelled out over the gun fire.   
  
A man with a black coat and a black mask approached, holding his arms up and shouting at his men to cease fire. They all obeyed thought they all stood with their guns at the ready.   
  
“The omega belongs to us!” The man in black yelled at the Avengers.   
  
“I'm getting movement from the pit,” Sam whispered through the comms.   
  
Steve nodded discreetly but kept his full focus on the man in front of him.   
  
“You have no right to imprison innocent children and claim them as your own!” Steve spat bitterly.   
  
“You fools have no idea how valuable and rare an omega like him is. It is vital that we preserve and protect such a beautiful rare flower.” The man in black sneered.   
  
“Bull shit, you're imprisoning him as a sex slave just so he can bare your precious purebred omega babies. You're denying an innocent child his freedom for your pleasure.” Steve shouted, gesturing with his gun.   
  
“You ass holes took two of my most prized possessions and you are not taking the third.”   
  
The man in black's eyes settled on James and he felt his heart stop. Fear coursed through his blood and the other Avengers seemed to sense his anxiety and tighten around him in a protective circle.   
  
“Keep the fuck away from them.” Steve sneered then raised his gun and fired in at the man in black.   
  
Then all hell broke loose. Both sides began shooting again, both receiving hits but none of the Avengers had been killed in the fight. James managed to get shot in the thigh and Sam was shot out of the sky and badly injured. The team was about to retreat when Natasha got in a lucky shot and shot the man in black in the head. The few Hydra facility betas that were left took the body of their leader and retreated. When the Hydra soldiers had cleared off, Steve turned his attention back to his team.   
  
“Anyone hurt?” He asked looking around in the dark.   
  
“Sam's been hit pretty bad, he needs to get back to base as soon as possible. James is hit too but it's not that bad, he just needs to get the bullet removed and the wound cleaned to prevent infection.” Bruce replied softly.   
  
“Alright, Rhodes, help Bruce get Sam to safety, Nat, help James into the truck and Clint, come help me take the kid back to the truck.”   
  
The team nodded and went about carrying out their jobs swiftly. Clint ran towards the hole in the ground and fell to his knees. He swiftly pulled out a flashlight and gasped at the sight he saw.   
  
“He's bleeding heavily!” Clint cried, frantically beckoning Steve forward, “We've got to get him to base, he'll die if we don't get out of here quickly.”   
  
The boy way awfully young, way too young to be in this situation. The was by far the most beautiful person Clint had ever laid eyes on, despite the awful blood and dirt that covered him. He looked extremely out of it and although his eyes were open, they were clouded over and blank, as if he was blind. Steve pushed the log from over the hole then climbed in, being careful not to slip and hurt the boy. He crouched down and picked up the boy and the clouded over eyes cleared for a moment and suddenly, Steve was lost in the beauty of the boy's honey brown and gold eyes. He brushed away sopping wet bangs from the boys face and the boy tensed slightly.   
  
“You'll be alright now, no one will ever hurt you again, I promise.” Steve whispered sincerely to the boy and judging by the way the boy relaxed in his arms, he must  believed him.   
  
Honey brown and gold eyes slid shut and Steve broke out of the trance.   
  
“Clint, take him, and run back to the truck, he's dying.” Steve said softly as he passed the boy over to Clint.   
  
Clint nodded vigorously and ran back to the truck with the boy in his arms. Steve turned back to the hole and looked around to see if he could find something else that could help find out the identity of the boy. He found nothing but a small sky blue China triangle. Steve put it in his pocket and ran back to the truck, telling Rhodes to take them all as fast as possible back to base so the injured could be taken care of.   
  
  
  
.....   
  
  
  
Z was comfortable. Z was very comfortable which was strange. They usually kept him hanging from the wall after he tried to escape. They'd beat him then do other disgusting things to him after. He opened his eyes, expecting to see white walls, white floor, and white everything else but he was shocked to see that the walls were pink instead! His blanket was light blue and the floor was brown. He sat up in a flash and looked around his new room. There were little tables on both sides of his bed and on one of them was a cup with red liquid with a curly blue straw poking out of it. He reached forward and took the cup, sniffing the liquid. The liquid smelled nice, like something he had smelled before but he couldn't quite remember what. He took a tiny sip of the liquid and fell in love with it straight away. It was so sweet and bubbly and it made him feel excited when the bubbles tickled his tongue. Z clutched the cup carefully to his chest as he surveyed the rest of the room. His eyes landed on the other table on the other side of the room and his eyes widened. He'd seen those before! The strange circle food with the little brown dots. They started with a C, they were usually brown and if Z remembered correctly, they always tasted good. Z crawled across the bed and picked up a C and bit it. It tasted liked warmth and comfort and they made tears come to his eyes but Z didn't know why. The taste was linked to a memory that he couldn't remember but apparently it was sad because tears were rolling down his cheeks. Z mumbled pitifully to himself, picked up another C and slid slowly off the bed. The floor was cold and smooth and wooden but it's wasn't as cold as the floor back at the institute. Z wobbled with the drink and the two C's to the big window that had cushions on the windowsill. He knelt down on the cushions and looked out the window to see the most beautiful scenery he'd ever seen in his life. The sky was so blue and clear, there were green hills and greener trees. The hills looked like one of those pretty patchwork blankets he'd seen in a dream. Some of the patches were green, some yellow, some brown. He couldn't remember the last time me had seen so many colours at the same time and it was the most beautiful, breathtaking thing he'd ever seen. Z sat there, looking out the window for quite some time before the door to his room opened. A beautiful young man entered. He had long brown hair that was tied up into a ponytail with a pretty blue ribbon, a dark blue shirt with a silver star on the front, tight black trousers and red shoes. He had clear blue eyes and the most perfect little button nose he had ever seen dusted with freckles. He had a kind face, a face that Z felt like he could trust.   
  
“Hello,” Z chirped, causing the pretty man to smile.   
  
“Hello, sweetheart, how are you feeling?” The man asked, coming closer to him.   
  
“I'm fine thank you, sir,” Z replied politely before taking another sip of his exciting drink.   
  
“You can call me James if you like, everyone calls me James.” James said softly.   
  
Z nodded and looked down at his oddly socked feet. That was strange, the institute never let him were anything but pure white socks.   
  
“Okay, James,” Z looked up at him, eyes wide with uncertainty, “I don't remember my name, I think it started with an A though.”   
  
“That's okay, It'll come back to you eventually,” James assured him.   
  
“How do you know?” Z asked with his head tilted to the side.   
  
“I know a lot about these things, trust me,” James replied with an outstretched hand.   
  
Z looked at James intently, he seemed really nice and all he could see in his eyes was kindness.   
  
“Okay, I trust you,” Z replied, dropping his two C's, getting up and taking James' outstretched hand.   
  
James took Z out of the room and walked him down the hallway, that was covered in colours and patterns and feathers and flowers. Z looked up at James with squinted eyes. He was half a head taller than him and only a little wider. His body wasn't the shape of the other omegas or the betas or even the alphas. He was too small, just like Z. Z liked that about James, because now he knew that the masters in the institute were wrong. He wasn't the only little one, he wasn't the only misfit. James led Z down the stairs when Z decided to ask a question.   
  
“Where is your leader?”   
  
“What do you mean?” James asked kindly, looking down at Z.   
  
“You are the people from the forest, yes? If you are then where's the leader who challenged the man in black?” he asked.   
  
Z always knew he was a little too inquisitive for his own good but he didn't care. James wouldn't hurt him, James was lovely and kind, just like a person from a memory he didn't know.   
  
“Oh, that was Steve, we won't see him just yet. He's a little, um,”   
  
“Scary?” Z asked with wide eyes.   
  
“No, forward,” James giggled sweetly.   
  
“I don't know what that means but ok,”   
  
James took him into a cozy room that was filled with warm colours and fluffy things. There was a man sat in one of the fluffy brown chairs and he had a kind face too. He had welcoming brown eyes and a soft smile. Z was a little on edge because when he looked hard, he could see anger.   
  
“This is Bruce, he's our resident doctor, he's really nice too.” James explained.   
  
“Hello, little one! What's your name?” Bruce asked softly.   
  
Z bit his lip, wondering if he should trust the man, “I don't remember but they called me Z.” He replied gripping James's had a little tighter.   
  
“Well, we can't keep on calling you Z, we can think of another name until you remember your real one which I'm sure will be very soon.”   
  
Z decided he liked the man with the warm brown eyes.   
  
“That would be nice,” Z mumbled, twisting his right foot around in the thick cream carpet.   
  
“What should we call him, James?”   
  
“How about, Bambi, because he has adorable Bambi eyes?” James asked excitedly.   
  
“I know about Bambi! I remember when I used to watch him on TV!” Z cried excitedly, grinning up James   
  
James laughed, genuinely delighted with the news that Z remembered something new, “That's amazing, you definitely will remember so many more things very soon, I'm positive.”   
  
Z, now nicknamed Bambi grinned from ear to ear, gripping James's hand even tighter in happiness and thanks.   
  
“Would you like to meet the rest of the team or would you like to go back to your room and finish that drink and the cookies?” James asked nicely.   
  
So that's what they were called, “Can I finish the drink and the cookies, please? I really like them.”   
  
“Alright, let's go,” James turned back to the nice man, “See you later, Bruce,”   
  
“Alright, James. It was nice meeting you, Bambi, see you later,” Bruce said with a smile and a little wave.   
  
Z smiled and waved back at Bruce. He really was very nice.   
  
James and Z walked back to the bedroom where the cookies were. The two sat on the bed.   
  
“Tomorrow, I'll show you more of house, there are more people to meet and learn from.” James said softly as Z laid back in the bed with a cookie.   
  
“You'll stay with me, won't you?” Z asked softly.   
  
“I will if you want me to.”   
  
Z closed his eyes and nodded his head. That would be nice.   
  


  
....   
  
  
“Rouge, you need to stop misbehaving, you know what the consequences entail so why must you be so difficult?”   
  
“No matter what you say, I will never submit to you.” the boy spat from his position, spread wide open on a metal bed, chains holding him down.   
  
“You will be broken, boy, no matter how hard you try to resist.”   
  
“You may take my memories but you'll never take my soul!” The boy shouted spiritedly.   
  
“Oh, little boy, I will rip everything that makes you who you are right out of you. It will take a while but by God, I will reduce you to a begging whore by the end of this and you'll bow to me and call me master. You are mine to destroy and I will only stop once you are a shattered mess beneath my feet.”   
  


  
...   
  


  
Z opened his eyes and sat up with a scream on his lips, cold sweat dripping down his back. He pulled his legs out of the tangled mess of colourful bed sheets and shuffled slowly towards the window. He sat on the cushions and leaned his head against the windowpane, hoping that by this, the incoming migraine caused by an avalanche of memory would fade. He looked up at his reflection in the dark glass, watching the tears roll down his face, carving trenches of sorrow into his cheeks. He remembered now. He wasn't taken, he was given and he really did belong to them because it was all in the contract written up by a man he thought of as a father. The man that vowed to his parents that he'd keep him safe no matter what but that promise meant fuck all to him and he knew that he'd send the poor boy off as soon as he hit his first heat. The man was a traitor who's acts were unforgettable. No matter what they did to his brain, he'd never forget his vow to himself when the man dumped him there for a worthless pile of money, alone, too young and scared out of his mind but full of hatred and revenge.    
  
Obadiah Stane is a traitor and I, Anthony Stark will tear him apart and rip his heart from his chest as he did mine.   
  
  
  
...   
  
Anthony woke up to a warm summer's breeze, cheerful chirping of birds and a low, soft and sweet humming when the sun emerged from the horizon, sending a beautiful pink golden glow over the hill side. He was somehow back on the bed, enveloped within the beautiful patchwork sheets and thick duvet of his new bed. He propped himself up onto one elbow and looked around the room to locate the soft beautiful humming that washed over him like a wave of warm content. He's eyes landed on James who was sat at the vanity in front of the mirror, brushing his thick, long, locks with his eyes closed, dark lashes fanning out across his pale cheeks. He restarted the soft tune as he parted his hair, tied off one side then proceeded to Dutch braid the opposite side. He swiftly finished the shoulder length braid and tied it off with a black elastic under a blue silk bow to decorate. He untied the other side then realized that little Anthony had woken up.   
  
“Good morning, lovely, how are you feeling?” James asked softly as he wandered over to the bed, half his long hair hanging loose.   
  
“I feel better, my headache is gone.”   
  
There was a silent pause.   
  
“I remember my name.” Anthony whispered as he curled up, tears filling his eyes, “I remember everything.”    
  
James gasped soft then tentatively gathered the small omega into his arms.   
  
“You wanna tell me what you remember?”   
  
Anthony didn't want to but he felt like he had to get it all off his chest. He absently tucked hair that had fallen into James' eye from the unbraided side behind his ear then took in a deep, calming breath and began his story.   
  
“My name is Anthony Edward Stark. I was born on the 29th of May, 2000 to Howard and Maria Stark. I'm seventeen years old. My parents died when I was ten and my dad gave me a blue triangle the day they died. I don't remember what it was for. My godfather took care of me until my first heat when I was twelve then sold my me to the ten rings who then sold me to Hydra Research Facilities and they tried to impregnate me for the better part of five years to replicate my DNA for reasons I never found out. They tried multiple sedative drugs on me and memory blocking treatment that didn't really work. They made us line up before breakfast and dinner and shot us up with drugs that never worked on me. I tried to escape but I was never successful and they always recaptured me then put me through the punishment program that will persuade you to never escape again but it was stupid because they punished me whether I tried to escape or not. They put babies in me but they all died because the drugs to keep me from remembering shut my body down and made me so sick that the babies always died. There were four bumps, seven that died before I started showing and one stillbirth. They all really hurt. They injected me with a healing factor and increased my fertility so I would be able to go through multiple pregnancies without damaging my reproductive system. They put me in a breeding stand to test which form of alpha was the most effective in breeding and what genetics to replicate. I remember seeing a room where they chopped alphas up while they were alive to watch their reproductive organs function in real time so they knew what drugs to produce. They hooked me up to probes that looked inside me to gain a better understanding of the omega body. They filled me with semen then put a camera inside me to track what happened. They...” Anthony choked up and stopped his story, pressing his face into James' shoulder to hide his tears.   
  
“That sounds like what happened to me. Apart from the fact that I never tried onto escape because i was born there and I didn't know better. Anytime they took me out of the room they sedated me first the put me in an identical room so I had no idea what anything else looked like. My name was actually Asset J4M [35] but when the Avengers came and took me out, they thought that if you took the brackets and space away it looked like it said James. It actually stands for the department floor and I was the 35th attempt at the experiment to make an alpha omega crossbreed.”


	10. Bitten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony looked down at the arm that wrapped itself around his waist and had to cover his mouth to suppress the soft cry that left his lips. The man's sleeve had moved up his arm to reveal two slightly raised lumps on his inner wrist; the lumps were a dark, sickly type of red with miniscule black veins spreading out from them. 
> 
> Vampire.

 Tony was angry. Actually, angry was a huge understatement. He was absolutely, fucking livid. He had recently had yet another fight with Clint and Steve, causing him to storm off to prevent a very embarrassing situation at his birthday gala for another year running. He didn't realize until it was too late that he had unintentionally walked so close to the bar he'd look like an idiot to turn back so he awkwardly inched forward and sat down, gritting his teeth to restrain himself from jumping up and going back over to physically fight Clint as he shouted out offensive comments about how it was "no surprise that he went to the bar after losing a fight, he was only a pathetic alcoholic who deserved everything that came his way". Tony literally stood up when Clint shouted that it was no wonder why Pepper left him but was stopped by an overly strong hand to the wrist.

  
“Hey, pretty, don't let delinquents and undereducated fools get to you like that. You are too smart for that. Your IQ is so far over them that stooping to their level would be utterly ridiculous.” The man smoothly said without removing his too tight grip, discreetly pulling Tony down back onto his seat. “Here, doll, have a drink on me, it's your birthday after all and if this is the kinda shit you deal with on a daily basis, you deserve one.”   
  
The man had an odd but handsome face. Silver eyes, hair the colour of the desert sand, a layer of sandpaper scruff across his cheeks and an overall look that screamed untrustworthy bank robber from the 1800 or something.   
  
Tony stood once again tried to shrug off the man's tight grip and leave but the he just gripped harder.   
  
He could have sworn he heard his bones creak   
  
“Thanks but I'm good, I didn't even mean to come over here, I just-”   
  
The man tugged Tony unceremoniously into his lap and was not at all gentle about securing him.   
  
“No, darlin' I insist.” The man drawled in his heavy old-timey Western accent.   
  
Tony looked down at the arm that wrapped itself around his waist and had to cover his mouth to suppress the soft cry that left his lips. The man's sleeve had moved up his arm to reveal two slightly raised lumps on his inner wrist; the lumps were a dark, sickly type of red with miniscule black veins spreading out from them.    
  
Vampire.   
  
Tony struggled in the man's arms, now desperate to get away. He was right to have trusted the alarm bells ringing in his head.   
  
“Sweetheart, I would not do that if I were you, all I wanted was to give you a little birthday present.” The man mock pouted as he nuzzled Tony's neck, breathing in deeply. “Sit still now before I have to hurt your friends. I can promise you that it will not be pretty, doll face, I got a lot of hungry pals here and I'd hate to ruin your party.”   
  
Tony winced as he felt sharp teeth rub over the supple skin of his neck in a silent threat.   
  
“Why the hell do you want me anyway? I'm old and broken and my blood's definitely not fresh.” Tony spat quietly hoping no one, (especially his teammates) would see this display of very one sided affection.   
  
“Darlin', I want you because you are pure. You have the purest blood I've smelled in centuries and I want it.” The man growled.   
  
“You're not getting anything from me.” Tony hissed, “And how the hell am I pure? You name something and I've done it, no matter how dirty.”   
  
“Not sexually, you fool, I mean you are pure blooded. It is said that if one drinks from a pureblood, they will live forever.”   
  
Tony's brow crinkled, “You're a vampire, why would you need to do that? You're already immortal.” he asked, breezing over the whole "pureblood" thing. It simply made no sense, Tony believed that he was anything but pure.   
  
The vampire rolled his eyes and ignored Tony's question, “Let me buy you a drink, gorgeous.”   
  
“You're going to roofie me or something, aren't you.” Tony's voice shook now, he had enough roofie situations in his mental bank to share with the next generation.   
  
“No, of course not! That will make your blood bitter and I can smell that sugary goodness pumping through those veins, I can't afford to spoil blood that almost smells better than sex. Although, sex with you is bound to beat that.”    
  
Tony's full body shuddered.   
  
“Bartender, a drink if you please!” The vampire yelled with a wave.   
  
The bartender walked over and politely asked what drinks they desired.   
  
“Just a whisky on the rocks for the birthday boy, put it on my tab,” The vampire ordered smoothly as he rubbed his thumb over the inside of Tony's thigh.   
  
“Ah, a drink for the birthday boy! It's on us,” The bartender said, his face brightening up as he grabbed a tumbler and prepared the beverage    
  
The vampire winked at the bartender and continued feeling Tony up and menacingly nipping at the soft skin of his neck.    
  
“Dear god, I just wanna devour you. Wonder what it feels like to sink into your body? Not just the way you're thinking of.” The vampire murmured, removing his teeth from Tony's neck, slowly and sensually grinding his hips up into Tony's behind, causing the (visually) older man to yelp. He could feel the hardness of the other man up against his rear; he was beginning to quietly panic. He knew what was coming and right now, he was unsure if he would be able to stop this immensely powerful vampire from taking what he wanted.    
  
He could try and run but it would be completely pointless as the vampire was too strong, probably even stronger than Steve. He could also try screaming out but one of two things would happen. Either he'd just draw unwanted attention to himself and people would probably laugh and criticise him for trying to be the centre of attention once again  or the vampire would call on his friends, killing everyone in the room in a blink of an eye.    
  
Therefore, Tony remained, still and trembling in the vampires arms, quietly and fearfully accepting his fate, whatever it may be.   
  
The waiter placed the glass heavily on the bar top, drawing the vampires attention.   
  
“One whiskey on the rocks for the birthday boy,” He announced cheerfully as he dried his hands on his apron.   
  
“Thank you kind sir, much appreciated,” The vampire drawled as he picked up the glass in toast to the bartender.   
  
The man dipped his head in thanks then whisked away to service others who demanded attention. The vampire raised the glass to his lips and drunk deeply from the glass, his tongue flicking out over the tumbler's edge to collect the last of the amber drops on it's rim. He grabbed Tony's face not so gently and forced the glass to his lips.   
  
“Drink doll, you're gonna need it,” He hissed in Tony's ear.   
  
Tony grudgingly obeyed and opened his mouth to accept the last half of the amber beverage. As Tony swallowed the last of the liquid, he was roughly manipulated into a straddle position. The vampire pulled Tony flush with him with a dirty little smirk as he heard Tony gulp as his own groin came into contact with a huge, unmistakable bulge in the other man's trousers.   
  
“You can call me Archie, dolly. Now you will know what to scream in bed.” He said with a wink as he wrapped his arms around Tony's waist, pulling his entire body flush against his. Tony unintentionally wrapped both arms around Archie's neck to support himself but blushed deep red when he realised it was possibly the worst decision to make when he was staring straight into the disappointed eyes of Steven Rogers. Tony's own eyes filled with tears of frustration, knowing he couldn't possibly call for the help he needed though he was staring help in the eye. Tony let out a suprised cry when he felt two knife-like points puncture his neck followed by a strange ticklish warmth that spread throughout his body. He felt himself go limp as Archie removed his face from his neck and stood up with Tony helpless in his arms, his limbs completely unresponsive. Archie casually walked through the crowd and towards the door as if absolutely nothing was wrong and he was not carrying a limp, drugged looking billionaire out of the room.    
  
Steve watched as the strange man that Tony had been sitting on got up, still between the (seemingly) older man's thighs, supporting him with two ill placed hands under Tony's rear end. Steve knew something was wrong but he, for some stupid reason, did nothing about it. Steve looked at Clint with a puzzled expression which Clint didn't return. Instead, he rolled his eyes and huffed out, clearly not having to same feelings towards the situation as Steve.   
  
“He looks really out of it, look how limp his arms are.” Steve whispered as the man walked past proudly, holding his "prize" close to his chest. The man had the nerve to wink at him and that, for some reason, filled Steve with anger and jealousy.   
  
“Looks like he probably got a bad drink. Not like he doesn't deserve it though.” Clint bitterly hissed as he took a swig from his glass.   
  
Steve turned to him in horror, mouth opened wide.   
  
“What? The man's a whore, maybe he's about to get what he deserves, thing about it, how many women has he done this to in his past?”   
  
“That's disgusting, Clint. No one deserves to...to experience something like that. Tony may be a dick but he isn't a...he isn't someone who would take advantage of another person like that.” Steve argued angrily, both fists clenched.   
  
“You don't honestly believe that, I always see the looks you give him when he stumbles in with a couple of drunk chicks in his arms!” Clint retorted, slamming his glass down in anger.   
  
“Yeah, but it's not like he's not drunk too!”   
  
“So you're saying it's okay then?” Clint fumed.   
  
“No, Clint! Stop putting fucking words in my mouth! I'm just saying that he doesn't have the full capacity to make decisions so he didn't do it deliberately.”   
  
“You're basically saying it's fine for him to-”   
  
“So you've never made a drunk mistake?” Steve demanded.   
  
Clint stopped.   
  
“Um, yeah but I never make the same drunk mistake over and over again!”   
  
“But you still make mistakes while drunk so until you're completely faultless, don't judge him for being human and maybe having underlying problems you don't understand.” Steve hissed as he slammed down his fists on the bar top then stood up and stormed out of the room.   
  
“What a fucking hypocrite.” Clint hissed before he took a long sip of his beer.   
  
  
...   
  
  
  
Tony's heart beat faster and faster as Archie walked closer and closer to his destination, knowing that his fate was about to be sealed. He was just moments away from the point of no return, when a rescue wouldn't matter as the damage could never be undone.    
  
“Hush, pretty, stress will make your blood sour and we don't want that, do we?”   
  
Tony attempted to reply with a "fuck you" but all that came out was a limp whimper which Archie threw his head back and cackled at.   
  
“Fuck, you're cute when you're angry.”   
  
Archie climbed up the stairs of the hotel with Tony in his arms effortlessly, like Tony weighed less than a bag of sugar. Tony would have been impressed if Archie wasn't currently taking him to his room to have his way with him. They reached the room door, 679 way too quickly and Tony felt bile rise in his throat. He began to weakly struggle once again, imputing all his strength but it seemed as if he could only tremble and feebly lift his fingers. Archie unlocked the door and crossed the threshold but left the door open seemingly uncaring that his own privacy would he breached by leaving the door open. It was like as if he didn't realize that an open door was an invitation. Perhaps it was simply to fill Tony with false hope of a last second rescue. Archie got to the main section of the hotel room and threw Tony down onto the large, California king sized bed and proceeded to quite literally tear the overly expensive clothing from his prone body. As Archie got closer and closer to Tony's bare and vulnerable skin Tony heard himself begin to helplessly whimper in fear and was unable to stop the humiliating sound from leaving his throat. To make it worse, he felt his eyes fill with tears and his body beginning to shake. Nothing he could do could mask his fear and it was becoming more and more evident that there would be no one to save him from this particular mess that he unintentionally got himself into, just by walking into the wrong space and the wrong time.   
  
“Oh my oh my, don't you look ravishing.” Archie groaned in arousal.    
  
Tony felt bile rise in his throat as Archie looked over his now naked body while he palmed himself over his jeans.   
  
“Please, don't do this,” Tony managed to whisper.   
  
Archie tossed his head back and laughed.   
  
“No one could stop me if they tried. You're mine now.”   
  
Archie turned away and walked into the tiny passage that lead to the door. Tony heard the door slam and the latch lock.   
  
No one could save him now.   
  
  
...   
  
  
Tony woke up to the sound birds, the burning heat of sunlight and the stench of his own blood. He sat up gingerly, body aching and soul shaken.


End file.
